CVE-2025-39723: Linux kernel · netfs: Fix unbuffered write error handling
Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:55 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 26 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Ubuntu 25.10linux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=questingOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTSlinux-aws-6.14pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws-6.14?arch=source&distro=nobleOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTSlinux-azure-6.11pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-6.11?arch=source&distro=nobleOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTSlinux-azure-6.14pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-6.14?arch=source&distro=nobleOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.14?arch=source&distro=nobleOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-nvidia-6.14?arch=source&distro=nobleOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfs: Fix unbuffered write error handling If all the subrequests in an unbuffered write stream fail, the subrequest collector doesn't update the stream->transferred value and it retains its initial LONG_MAX value. Unfortunately, if all active streams fail, then we take the smallest value of { LONG_MAX, LONG_MAX, ... } as the value to set in wreq->transferred - which is then returned from ->write_iter(). LONG_MAX was chosen as the initial value so that all the streams can be quickly assessed by taking the smallest value of all stream->transferred - but this only works if we've set any of them. Fix this by adding a flag to indicate whether the value in stream->transferred is valid and checking that when we integrate the values. stream->transferred can then be initialised to zero. This was found by running the generic/750 xfstest against cifs with cache=none. It splices data to the target file. Once (if) it has used up all the available scratch space, the writes start failing with ENOSPC. This causes ->write_iter() to fail. However, it was returning wreq->transferred, i.e. LONG_MAX, rather than an error (because it thought the amount transferred was non-zero) and iter_file_splice_write() would then try to clean up that amount of pipe bufferage - leading to an oops when it overran. The kernel log showed: CIFS: VFS: Send error in write = -28 followed by: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 with: RIP: 0010:iter_file_splice_write+0x3a4/0x520 do_splice+0x197/0x4e0 or: RIP: 0010:pipe_buf_release (include/linux/pipe_fs_i.h:282) iter_file_splice_write (fs/splice.c:755) Also put a warning check into splice to announce if ->write_iter() returned that it had written more than it was asked to.
References
- ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-39723 (opens in a new tab)
- cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39723 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/linus/a3de58b12ce074ec05b8741fa28d62ccb1070468 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/387164a2b97e1f5404c6d0049a7409bac7d2bc5b (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3de58b12ce074ec05b8741fa28d62ccb1070468 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f08c80af3c9a9849cd178b4843b7c01d103506a1 (opens in a new tab)