Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: reject invalid reloc tree root keys with stack dump
[BUG] Syzbot reported a crash that an ASSERT() got triggered inside prepare_to_merge().
That ASSERT() makes sure the reloc tree is properly pointed back by its subvolume tree.
[CAUSE] After more debugging output, it turns out we had an invalid reloc tree:
BTRFS error (device loop1): reloc tree mismatch, root 8 has no reloc root, expect reloc root key (-8, 132, 8) gen 17
Note the above root key is (TREE_RELOC_OBJECTID, ROOT_ITEM, QUOTA_TREE_OBJECTID), meaning it's a reloc tree for quota tree.
But reloc trees can only exist for subvolumes, as for non-subvolume trees, we just COW the involved tree block, no need to create a reloc tree since those tree blocks won't be shared with other trees.
Only subvolumes tree can share tree blocks with other trees (thus they have BTRFS_ROOT_SHAREABLE flag).
Thus this new debug output proves my previous assumption that corrupted on-disk data can trigger that ASSERT().
[FIX] Besides the dedicated fix and the graceful exit, also let tree-checker to check such root keys, to make sure reloc trees can only exist for subvolumes.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HAffected software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | >= 259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541, < 314135b7bae9618a317874ae195272682cf2d5d4; >= 259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541, < 3ae93b316ca4b8b3c33798ef1d210355f2fb9318; >= 259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541, < 84256e00eeca73c529fc6196e478cc89b8098157; >= 259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541, < 6ebcd021c92b8e4b904552e4d87283032100796d; 3d95c52d789ca99e344061d7f6dadb2519adbcf5; fba904d68c8bbfcc89c2210cfcb2351be90bc3e5; >= 5.2.19, < 5.3; >= 5.3.4, < 5.4 |
| Linux | Linux | 5.4 |
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/314135b7bae9618a317874ae195272682cf2d5d4Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3ae93b316ca4b8b3c33798ef1d210355f2fb9318Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ebcd021c92b8e4b904552e4d87283032100796dPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/84256e00eeca73c529fc6196e478cc89b8098157Patch
Timeline
- Published
- Oct 7, 2025
- Last modified
- Jun 17, 2026
- NVD status
- Analyzed