CVE Database›CVE-2025-38063

CVE-2025-38063

kernel: dm: fix unconditional IO throttle caused by REQ_PREFLUSH

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Severity

Moderate

Red Hat Product Security

6

CVSS 3.1

Review impact separately from score.

Published · June 18, 2025

Updated · June 30, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

dm: fix unconditional IO throttle caused by REQ_PREFLUSH

When a bio with REQ_PREFLUSH is submitted to dm, __send_empty_flush() generates a flush_bio with REQ_OP_WRITE | REQ_PREFLUSH | REQ_SYNC, which causes the flush_bio to be throttled by wbt_wait().

An example from v5.4, similar problem also exists in upstream:

crash> bt 2091206
PID: 2091206  TASK: ffff2050df92a300  CPU: 109  COMMAND: "kworker/u260:0"
 #0 [ffff800084a2f7f0] __switch_to at ffff80004008aeb8
 #1 [ffff800084a2f820] __schedule at ffff800040bfa0c4
 #2 [ffff800084a2f880] schedule at ffff800040bfa4b4
 #3 [ffff800084a2f8a0] io_schedule at ffff800040bfa9c4
 #4 [ffff800084a2f8c0] rq_qos_wait at ffff8000405925bc
 #5 [ffff800084a2f940] wbt_wait at ffff8000405bb3a0
 #6 [ffff800084a2f9a0] __rq_qos_throttle at ffff800040592254
 #7 [ffff800084a2f9c0] blk_mq_make_request at ffff80004057cf38
 #8 [ffff800084a2fa60] generic_make_request at ffff800040570138
 #9 [ffff800084a2fae0] submit_bio at ffff8000405703b4
#10 [ffff800084a2fb50] xlog_write_iclog at ffff800001280834 [xfs]
#11 [ffff800084a2fbb0] xlog_sync at ffff800001280c3c [xfs]
#12 [ffff800084a2fbf0] xlog_state_release_iclog at ffff800001280df4 [xfs]
#13 [ffff800084a2fc10] xlog_write at ffff80000128203c [xfs]
#14 [ffff800084a2fcd0] xlog_cil_push at ffff8000012846dc [xfs]
#15 [ffff800084a2fda0] xlog_cil_push_work at ffff800001284a2c [xfs]
#16 [ffff800084a2fdb0] process_one_work at ffff800040111d08
#17 [ffff800084a2fe00] worker_thread at ffff8000401121cc
#18 [ffff800084a2fe70] kthread at ffff800040118de4

After commit 2def2845cc33 ("xfs: don't allow log IO to be throttled"), the metadata submitted by xlog_write_iclog() should not be throttled. But due to the existence of the dm layer, throttling flush_bio indirectly causes the metadata bio to be throttled.

Fix this by conditionally adding REQ_IDLE to flush_bio.bi_opf, which makes wbt_should_throttle() return false to avoid wbt_wait().

CVSS score applicability

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation

No mitigation is specified in collected source.

CVSS / CWE

CVSS 3.1 · 6
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

CWE-99 · Improper Control of Resource Identifiers ('Resource Injection')