CVE-2026-93800

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 roots 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 Xs ->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] [ 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. —truncated—

Affected Software

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a247097c5f94b51ffc991b444d998ad6e85875f
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6372dd394ea907cd85a7a8063db320ec73dfaed0
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83201804efa4a5168be754e1dfc9b2faee760cac
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97a540d72ebcb21853d11f2a56782fe377f358e7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f599d120b2b79d2d937c3935b7cdf2697514283
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a01837ae174a2a968c245a30e6dd010f50eaf05d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fda1b6636ff1846f00643e791099db5564b547d9