CVE-2025-38203: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-3rjx-hm66-mfp3
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CVSS 5.5
CWE-476
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-38203 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2025-38203 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-38203
GHSA Identifier GHSA-3rjx-hm66-mfp3
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2025-38203

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2025-38203, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference, where the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: jfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in jfs_ioc_trim [ Syzkaller Report ] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000087: 0000 [#1 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000438-0x000000000000043f] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 10614 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc6-gfbfd64d25c7a-dirty #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 Sched_ext: serialise (enabled+all), task: runnable_at=-30ms RIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 Code: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93 90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6 RSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438 FS: 00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body+0x61/0xb0 ? die_addr+0xb1/0xe0 ? exc_general_protection+0x333/0x510 ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x26/0x30 ? jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 jfs_ioctl+0x3c8/0x4f0 ? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10 __se_sys_ioctl+0x269/0x350 ? __pfx___se_sys_ioctl+0x10/0x10 ? do_syscall_64+0xfb/0x210 do_syscall_64+0xee/0x210 ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1e0/0x330 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7fe51f4903ad Code: c3 e8 a7 2b 00 00 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d RSP: 002b:00007fe5202250c8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fe51f5cbf80 RCX: 00007fe51f4903ad RDX: 0000000020000680 RSI: 00000000c0185879 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fe520225640 R13: 000000000000000e R14: 00007fe51f44fca0 R15: 00007fe52021d000 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 Code: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93 90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6 RSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438 FS: 00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception [ Analysis ] We believe that we have found a concurrency bug in the `fs/jfs` module that results in a null pointer dereference. There is a closely related issue which has been fixed: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d6c1b3599b2feb5c7291f5ac3a36e5fa7cedb234 ... but, unfortunately, the accepted patch appears to still be susceptible to a null pointer dereference under some interleavings. To trigger the bug, we think that `JFS_SBI(ipbmap->i_sb)->bmap` is set to NULL in `dbFreeBits` and then dereferenced in `jfs_ioc_trim`. This bug manifests quite rarely under normal circumstances, but is triggereable from a syz-program.

References

NVD — CVE-2025-38203 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38203
git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d50231d47... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d50231d473f89024158dc62624930de45d13718
git.kernel.org/stable/c/233340626c... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/233340626cf1b1887dca181f9f811db60c73f802
git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a2de0f5b8... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a2de0f5b8d7f218bea5bd43d30b466e8b272b8d
git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a8cb9908b... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a8cb9908b51500a76f5156423bd295df53bff89
git.kernel.org/stable/c/9806ae34d7... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9806ae34d7d661c372247cd36f83bfa0523d60ed
git.kernel.org/stable/c/a39f811a9f... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a39f811a9f5edb6d97bede8e6fe730393d3c8537
git.kernel.org/stable/c/a4685408ff... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a4685408ff6c3e2af366ad9a7274f45ff3f394ee
git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9d41c9250... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9d41c925069c950e18160e12a7e10e0f58c56fb
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-38203?
CVE-2025-38203 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2025-38203?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-38203?
CVE-2025-38203 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-38203?
CVE-2025-38203 is classified under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference (The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2025-38203?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-3rjx-hm66-mfp3",
  "modified" : "2026-09-02T15:33:17Z",
  "published" : "2025-07-04T15:31:09Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-38203" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\njfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in jfs_ioc_trim\n\n[ Syzkaller Report ]\n\nOops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address\n0xdffffc0000000087: 0000 [#1\nKASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000438-0x000000000000043f]\nCPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 10614 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted\n6.13.0-rc6-gfbfd64d25c7a-dirty #1\nHardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014\nSched_ext: serialise (enabled+all), task: runnable_at=-30ms\nRIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0\nCode: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93\n90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6\nRSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206\nRAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a\nRDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001\nRBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000\nR10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000\nR13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438\nFS:  00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000\nCS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033\nCR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0\nDR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000\nDR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400\nCall Trace:\n<TASK>\n? __die_body+0x61/0xb0\n? die_addr+0xb1/0xe0\n? exc_general_protection+0x333/0x510\n? asm_exc_general_protection+0x26/0x30\n? jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0\njfs_ioctl+0x3c8/0x4f0\n? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10\n? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10\n__se_sys_ioctl+0x269/0x350\n? __pfx___se_sys_ioctl+0x10/0x10\n? do_syscall_64+0xfb/0x210\ndo_syscall_64+0xee/0x210\n? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1e0/0x330\nentry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f\nRIP: 0033:0x7fe51f4903ad\nCode: c3 e8 a7 2b 00 00 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48\n89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d\nRSP: 002b:00007fe5202250c8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010\nRAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fe51f5cbf80 RCX: 00007fe51f4903ad\nRDX: 0000000020000680 RSI: 00000000c0185879 RDI: 0000000000000005\nRBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000\nR10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fe520225640\nR13: 000000000000000e R14: 00007fe51f44fca0 R15: 00007fe52021d000\n</TASK>\nModules linked in:\n---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---\nRIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0\nCode: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93\n90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6\nRSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206\nRAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a\nRDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001\nRBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000\nR10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000\nR13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438\nFS:  00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000\nCS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033\nCR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0\nDR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000\nDR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400\nKernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception\n\n[ Analysis ]\n\nWe believe that we have found a concurrency bug in the `fs/jfs` module\nthat results in a null pointer dereference. There is a closely related\nissue which has been fixed:\n\nhttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d6c1b3599b2feb5c7291f5ac3a36e5fa7cedb234\n\n... but, unfortunately, the accepted patch appears to still be\nsusceptible to a null pointer dereference under some interleavings.\n\nTo trigger the bug, we think that `JFS_SBI(ipbmap->i_sb)->bmap` is set\nto NULL in `dbFreeBits` and then dereferenced in `jfs_ioc_trim`. This\nbug manifests quite rarely under normal circumstances, but is\ntriggereable from a syz-program.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38203"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d50231d473f89024158dc62624930de45d13718"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/233340626cf1b1887dca181f9f811db60c73f802"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a2de0f5b8d7f218bea5bd43d30b466e8b272b8d"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a8cb9908b51500a76f5156423bd295df53bff89"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9806ae34d7d661c372247cd36f83bfa0523d60ed"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a39f811a9f5edb6d97bede8e6fe730393d3c8537"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a4685408ff6c3e2af366ad9a7274f45ff3f394ee"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9d41c925069c950e18160e12a7e10e0f58c56fb"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-476" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-07-04T14:15:28Z"
  }
}