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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-37785: Linux kernel · ext4: fix OOB read when checking dotdot dir

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 13:36 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (Linux)CVSS 3.17.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 18 Apr 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix for this vulnerability has been implemented in the Linux kernel by extending the directory entry validation logic to detect and reject malformed '.' entries that span an entire block. Users and administrators should apply the official Linux kernel updates that include this patch to remediate the issue. No alternative mitigations are indicated by the vendor advisory.

Description

CVE-2025-37785 is a high-severity vulnerability in the Linux kernel's ext4 filesystem driver. It involves an out-of-bounds (OOB) read triggered when mounting a corrupted ext4 filesystem containing a directory entry '.' with a record length equal to the block size. This flaw occurs because the code incorrectly assumes the '..' directory entry fits within the same data block, leading to a pointer dereference beyond the allocated memory. The issue was detected by the syzkaller tool and results in potential memory corruption during directory removal operations.

References

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