Bug 2540411 (CVE-2026-93800) - CVE-2026-93800 kernel: btrfs: fix use-after-free on reloc root after error in insert_dirty_subvol()
Summary: CVE-2026-93800 kernel: btrfs: fix use-after-free on reloc root after error in...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-93800
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-24 16:43 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-28 12:09 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-24 16:43:43 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: fix use-after-free on reloc root after error in insert_dirty_subvol()

If during relocation we fail in insert_dirty_subvol() because
btrfs_update_reloc_root() returned an error, we will leave a root's
reloc_root field pointing to a reloc root that was freed instead of NULL,
resulting later in a use-after-free, or double free attempt during
unmount.

The sequence of steps is this:

1) During relocation the call to btrfs_update_reloc_root() in
   insert_dirty_subvol() fails, so insert_dirty_subvol() returns the
   error to merge_reloc_root() without adding the root to the list
   rc->dirty_subvol_roots;

2) Then merge_reloc_root() aborts the current transaction because
   insert_dirty_subvol() returned an error;

3) Up the call chain, merge_reloc_roots() gets the error, adds the
   reloc root for root X to the local reloc_roots list and jumps to the
   'out' label, where it calls free_reloc_roots() to free all the reloc
   roots in the local reloc_roots list. This frees the reloc root for
   root X;

4) We go up the call chain to relocate_block_group() which calls
   clean_dirty_subvols() to go over dirty roots and set their
   ->reloc_root field to NULL, but root X is not in the dirty_subvol_roots
   list, so its ->reloc_root still points to a reloc root;

5) Relocation finishes, with an error and a transaction abort, but the
   ->reloc_root field for root X still points to the reloc root that was
   freed in step 3;

6) When unmounting the fs we end up calling:

     btrfs_free_fs_roots()
        btrfs_drop_and_free_fs_root()
           --> calls btrfs_put_root() against root X's ->reloc_root
               which is not NULL and points to the already freed
               reloc root in step 4 above

  Resulting in a use-after-free to a double free attempt.

Syzbot reported this with the following dmesg/syslog:

   [  106.004389][ T5339] BTRFS error (device loop0 state A): Transaction aborted (error -5)
   [  106.014266][ T5339] BTRFS: error (device loop0 state A) in merge_reloc_root:1655: errno=-5 IO failure
   [  106.021891][ T1061] BTRFS error (device loop0 state A): error while writing out transaction: -5
   [  106.026964][ T1061] BTRFS warning (device loop0 state A): Skipping commit of aborted transaction.
   [  106.033807][ T5340] BTRFS error (device loop0 state A): bdev /dev/loop0 errs: wr 3, rd 0, flush 0, corrupt 0, gen 0
   [  106.039265][ T1061] BTRFS: error (device loop0 state A) in cleanup_transaction:2067: errno=-5 IO failure
   [  106.044382][ T5339] BTRFS info (device loop0 state EA): forced readonly
   [  106.074329][ T5339] BTRFS: error (device loop0 state EA) in merge_reloc_roots:1887: errno=-5 IO failure
   [  106.081004][ T5356] BTRFS info (device loop0 state EA): scrub: started on devid 1
   [  106.085611][ T5339] BTRFS info (device loop0 state EA): balance: ended with status: -30
   [  106.089517][ T5356] BTRFS info (device loop0 state EA): scrub: not finished on devid 1 with status: -30
   [  106.662365][ T5338] BTRFS info (device loop0 state EA): last unmount of filesystem 3a375e4e-b156-4d76-a2ad-16e198ce1409
   [  106.682946][ T5338] ==================================================================
   [  106.686574][ T5338] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in btrfs_put_root+0x2f/0x250
   [  106.690090][ T5338] Write of size 4 at addr ffff88803f978630 by task syz.0.0/5338
   [  106.693173][ T5338]
   [  106.694279][ T5338] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5338 Comm: syz.0.0 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
   [  106.694293][ T5338] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
   [  106.694300][ T5338] Call Trace:
   [  106.694308][ T5338]  <TASK>
   [  106.694314][ T5338]  dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150
   [  106.694331][ T5338]  print_address_description+0x55/0x1e0
   [  106.694343][ T5338]  ? btrfs_put_root+0x2f/0x250
   [  106.694358][ T5338]  print_report+0x58/0x70
   [  106.
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