Detections
Analytics

Azure Linux 3.0 Security Update: kernel (CVE-2025-38220)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 295166

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Synopsis

The remote Azure Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The version of kernel installed on the remote Azure Linux 3.0 host is prior to tested version. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the CVE-2025-38220 advisory.

 - In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files fstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as follows: BUG:
 kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4] ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4] ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4] ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4] ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4] get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0 vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0 vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0
 __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0 do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170 ... This occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The partial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls ext4_dirty_journalled_data() -> folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls mapping->a_ops->dirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an a_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash. To avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to only mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is assigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink() creation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly. (CVE-2025-38220)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38220

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 295166

File Name: azure_linux_CVE-2025-38220.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Published: 1/22/2026

Updated: 1/22/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.6

Temporal Score: 3.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-38220

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-drivers-gpu, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-docs, x-cpe:/o:microsoft:azure_linux, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-drivers-sound, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-drivers-intree-amdgpu, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-drivers-accessibility, p-cpe:/a:microsoft:azure_linux:kernel-tools

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AzureLinux/release, Host/AzureLinux/rpm-list, Host/cpu

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/12/2025

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/4/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-38220