The Linux kernel’s f2fs filesystem previously created its garbage‑collector thread as a separate kernel object. This design allowed the GC thread to be freed while other parts of the filesystem could still reference it, leading to a NULL pointer dereference race condition (CWE‑476). During filesystem operations such as remount, unmount or shutdown the thread might be prematurely disposed of while still in use, which can cause a kernel crash or panic.

All Linux kernel installations running the f2fs filesystem that were built before the embedding patch, which corresponds to any kernel version prior to the commit referenced at the provided Git URLs. The affected product is the Linux kernel as a whole, and the vulnerability applies to any kernel configuration that includes f2fs support.

The CVSS score for this vulnerability is 5.5, and the EPSS score is less than 1%. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV. The likely attack vector requires local or escalated privileges to manipulate filesystem operations such as remounting or unmounting while garbage collection or background writes are active. Because no exploits have been reported, the precise likelihood of exploitation is uncertain; however, the potential outcome—a kernel crash and loss of availability—makes it a high‑prioritization concern for systems that rely on f2fs.