CVE-2026-74572

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

btrfs: zoned: fix deadlock between metadata writeback and transaction commit

When writing out metadata extent buffers in a zoned filesystem, btree_writepages() holds fs_info->zoned_meta_io_lock across the whole writeback loop, including the call to btrfs_check_meta_write_pointer() -> check_bg_is_active().

For the tree-log block group, check_bg_is_active() may fail to activate the zone and fall back to btrfs_zone_finish_one_bg() to free an active zone. That path waits for the running transaction to commit while still holding zoned_meta_io_lock, but the committer needs that same lock to write out the tree extents, so the two tasks deadlock:

Task A (kworker, metadata writeback) Task B (fsstress, transaction commit)

wb_workfn() btrfs_commit_transaction(T) btree_writepages() btrfs_write_and_wait_transaction() btrfs_zoned_meta_io_lock() btrfs_write_marked_extents() btrfs_check_meta_write_pointer() btree_writepages() check_bg_is_active() [treelog_bg] btrfs_zoned_meta_io_lock() btrfs_zone_finish_one_bg() <blocks on zoned_meta_io_lock, btrfs_zone_finish() held by Task A> do_zone_finish() btrfs_inc_block_group_ro() btrfs_wait_for_commit() <blocks waiting for commit of transaction T, done by Task B>

The sibling branch in check_bg_is_active() already drops zoned_meta_io_lock around do_zone_finish() for this exact reason. Do the same in the tree-log branch: release the lock around btrfs_zone_finish_one_bg() and re-acquire it afterwards. The lock only protects fs_info->active_{meta,system}_bg, which this branch does not touch, and ctx->zoned_bg keeps a reference to the block group across the unlock, so nothing is lost while the lock is dropped.

This hang occasionally reproduces with fstests generic/475 on a zoned btrfs filesystem.

Affected Software

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18577e77c2c8adaadf1f7c6e9bcd1c0b14e5dcdd
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1ebe51c29fa9755d5b2fea28727c051117907cf8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75859a7cd77cd2ddaddbcb963e3fcd34738953af
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3320873e0c04ce7b746fc8fe948f07bbbbdec33
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/deddd28fd83c264ee2ff5cd6b34449a9f1be6112