CVE-2022-50293

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

btrfs: do not BUG_ON() on ENOMEM when dropping extent items for a range

If we get -ENOMEM while dropping file extent items in a given range, at btrfs_drop_extents(), due to failure to allocate memory when attempting to increment the reference count for an extent or drop the reference count, we handle it with a BUG_ON(). This is excessive, instead we can simply abort the transaction and return the error to the caller. In fact most callers of btrfs_drop_extents(), directly or indirectly, already abort the transaction if btrfs_drop_extents() returns any error.

Also, we already have error paths at btrfs_drop_extents() that may return -ENOMEM and in those cases we abort the transaction, like for example anything that changes the b+tree may return -ENOMEM due to a failure to allocate a new extent buffer when COWing an existing extent buffer, such as a call to btrfs_duplicate_item() for example.

So replace the BUG_ON() calls with proper logic to abort the transaction and return the error.

Weakness

The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

Affected Software

Extended Description

While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, it can still lead to a denial of service. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, and an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this is a reachable assertion that leads to a denial of service.

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/162d053e15fe985f754ef495a96eb3db970c43ed
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1baf3370e2dc5e6bd1368348736189457dab2a27
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/50f993da945074b2a069da099a0331b23a0c89a0
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7fbcb635c8fc927d139f3302babcf1b42c09265c