# CVE-2025-40119: ext4: fix potential null deref in ext4\_mb\_init()

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-11-12 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix potential null deref in ext4_mb_init() In ext4_mb_init(), ext4_mb_avg_fragment_size_destroy() may be called when sbi->s_mb_avg_fragment_size remains uninitialized (e.g., if groupinfo slab cache allocation fails). Since ext4_mb_avg_fragment_size_destroy() lacks null pointer checking, this leads to a null pointer dereference. ================================================================== EXT4-fs: no memory for groupinfo slab cache BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP PTI CPU:2 UID: 0 PID: 87 Comm:mount Not tainted 6.17.0-rc2 #1134 PREEMPT(none) RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x1b/0x40 Call Trace: <TASK> xa_destroy+0x61/0x130 ext4_mb_init+0x483/0x540 __ext4_fill_super+0x116d/0x17b0 ext4_fill_super+0xd3/0x280 get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0 vfs_get_tree+0x29/0xd0 do_new_mount+0x197/0x300 __x64_sys_mount+0x116/0x150 do_syscall_64+0x50/0x1c0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e ================================================================== Therefore, add necessary null check to ext4_mb_avg_fragment_size_destroy() to prevent this issue. The same fix is also applied to ext4_mb_largest_free_orders_destroy().

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
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## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08d9175578d6a8e9b81921898fbf01aa669cd2be
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/00110f3cfc9b34b2dfee2a6c9e55a0ae6df125ae
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3c3fac6bc0a9c00dbe65d8dc0d3a282afe4d3188

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