CVE-2025-21753

btrfs: fix use-after-free when attempting to join an aborted transaction

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: February 27, 2025 at 02:12 AM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 02:17 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsLinux KernelSIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP

Using Linux by Linux?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Linux - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix use-after-free when attempting to join an aborted transaction When we are trying to join the current transaction and if it's aborted, we read its 'aborted' field after unlocking fs_info->trans_lock and without holding any extra reference count on it. This means that a concurrent task that is aborting the transaction may free the transaction before we read its 'aborted' field, leading to a use-after-free. Fix this by reading the 'aborted' field while holding fs_info->trans_lock since any freeing task must first acquire that lock and set fs_info->running_transaction to NULL before freeing the transaction. This was reported by syzbot and Dmitry with the following stack traces from KASAN: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in join_transaction+0xd9b/0xda0 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:278 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888011839024 by task kworker/u4:9/1128 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1128 Comm: kworker/u4:9 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc7-syzkaller-00019-gc45323b7560e #0 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014 Workqueue: events_unbound btrfs_async_reclaim_data_space Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0x169/0x550 mm/kasan/report.c:489 kasan_report+0x143/0x180 mm/kasan/report.c:602 join_transaction+0xd9b/0xda0 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:278 start_transaction+0xaf8/0x1670 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:697 flush_space+0x448/0xcf0 fs/btrfs/space-info.c:803 btrfs_async_reclaim_data_space+0x159/0x510 fs/btrfs/space-info.c:1321 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3236 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xa66/0x1840 kernel/workqueue.c:3317 worker_thread+0x870/0xd30 kernel/workqueue.c:3398 kthread+0x2f0/0x390 kernel/kthread.c:389 ret_from_fork+0x4b/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:244 </TASK> Allocated by task 5315: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3f/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:377 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0x98/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:394 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:260 [inline] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x243/0x390 mm/slub.c:4329 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:901 [inline] join_transaction+0x144/0xda0 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:308 start_transaction+0xaf8/0x1670 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:697 btrfs_create_common+0x1b2/0x2e0 fs/btrfs/inode.c:6572 lookup_open fs/namei.c:3649 [inline] open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3748 [inline] path_openat+0x1c03/0x3590 fs/namei.c:3984 do_filp_open+0x27f/0x4e0 fs/namei.c:4014 do_sys_openat2+0x13e/0x1d0 fs/open.c:1402 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1417 [inline] __do_sys_creat fs/open.c:1495 [inline] __se_sys_creat fs/open.c:1489 [inline] __x64_sys_creat+0x123/0x170 fs/open.c:1489 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 5336: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3f/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68 kasan_save_free_info+0x40/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:582 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:247 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x59/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:264 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:233 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2353 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:4613 [inline] kfree+0x196/0x430 mm/slub.c:4761 cleanup_transaction fs/btrfs/transaction.c:2063 [inline] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x2c97/0x3720 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:2598 insert_balance_item+0x1284/0x20b0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3757 btrfs_balance+0x992/ ---truncated---

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

3.4 ≤ v < 5.4.2915.11 ≤ v < 5.15.1795.16 ≤ v < 6.1.1295.5 ≤ v < 5.10.2356.13 ≤ v < 6.13.36.2 ≤ v < 6.6.786.7 ≤ v < 6.12.146.146.14 rc1871383be592ba7e819d27556591e315a0df38cee
Vendor states this is fixed in 6ba4663ada6c6315af23a6669d386146634808ec (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7e954b6bb95d67ae4d1a20e9cfd83c182cf929bc (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 86d71a026a7f63da905db9add845c8ee88801eca (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 8f5cff471039caa2b088060c074c2bf2081bcb01 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c7a53757717e68af94a56929d57f1e6daff220ec (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in ce628048390dad80320d5a1f74de6ca1e1be91e7 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in cee55b1219568c80bf0d5dc55066e4a859baf753 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in e2f0943cf37305dbdeaf9846e3c941451bcdef63 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.4 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.235 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.179 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.291 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.129 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.14 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.13.3 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.14 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.78 (unaffected)

References (12)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ba4663ada6c6315af23a6669d386146634808ec
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e954b6bb95d67ae4d1a20e9cfd83c182cf929bc
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/86d71a026a7f63da905db9add845c8ee88801eca
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f5cff471039caa2b088060c074c2bf2081bcb01
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c7a53757717e68af94a56929d57f1e6daff220ec
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ce628048390dad80320d5a1f74de6ca1e1be91e7
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cee55b1219568c80bf0d5dc55066e4a859baf753
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2f0943cf37305dbdeaf9846e3c941451bcdef63

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-416

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card