CVE-2025-38659

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

gfs2: No more self recovery

When a node withdraws and it turns out that it is the only node that has the filesystem mounted, gfs2 currently tries to replay the local journal to bring the filesystem back into a consistent state. Not only is that a very bad idea, it has also never worked because gfs2_recover_func() will refuse to do anything during a withdraw.

However, before even getting to this point, gfs2_recover_func() dereferences sdp->sd_jdesc->jd_inode. This was a use-after-free before commit 04133b607a78 ("gfs2: Prevent double iput for journal on error") and is a NULL pointer dereference since then.

Simply get rid of self recovery to fix that.

A flaw in the GFS2 filesystem’s journal recovery logic allowed a NULL pointer dereference when a node attempted “self recovery” after a withdraw. This code path was never functional and could be triggered when GFS2 tried to replay its own journal instead of waiting for another node. Exploitation requires administrative privileges to mount and operate GFS2, and results in a kernel crash, causing denial of service but no confidentiality or integrity impact.

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 for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.