btrfs: fix deadlock between quota disable and qgroup rescan worker
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-667 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix deadlock between quota disable and qgroup rescan worker Quota disable ioctl starts a transaction before waiting for the qgroup rescan worker completes. However, this wait can be infinite and results in deadlock because of circular dependency among the quota disable ioctl, the qgroup rescan worker and the other task with transaction such as block group relocation task. The deadlock happens with the steps following: 1) Task A calls ioctl to disable quota. It starts a transaction and waits for qgroup rescan worker completes. 2) Task B such as block group relocation task starts a transaction and joins to the transaction that task A started. Then task B commits to the transaction. In this commit, task B waits for a commit by task A. 3) Task C as the qgroup rescan worker starts its job and starts a transaction. In this transaction start, task C waits for completion of the transaction that task A started and task B committed. This deadlock was found with fstests test case btrfs/115 and a zoned null_blk device. The test case enables and disables quota, and the block group reclaim was triggered during the quota disable by chance. The deadlock was also observed by running quota enable and disable in parallel with 'btrfs balance' command on regular null_blk devices. An example report of the deadlock: [372.469894] INFO: task kworker/u16:6:103 blocked for more than 122 seconds. [372.479944] Not tainted 5.16.0-rc8 #7 [372.485067] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. [372.493898] task:kworker/u16:6 state:D stack: 0 pid: 103 ppid: 2 flags:0x00004000 [372.503285] Workqueue: btrfs-qgroup-rescan btrfs_work_helper [btrfs] [372.510782] Call Trace: [372.514092] <TASK> [372.521684] __schedule+0xb56/0x4850 [372.530104] ? io_schedule_timeout+0x190/0x190 [372.538842] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x7e/0x100 [372.547092] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x3e/0x60 [372.555591] schedule+0xe0/0x270 [372.561894] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x18bb/0x2610 [btrfs] [372.570506] ? btrfs_apply_pending_changes+0x50/0x50 [btrfs] [372.578875] ? free_unref_page+0x3f2/0x650 [372.585484] ? finish_wait+0x270/0x270 [372.591594] ? release_extent_buffer+0x224/0x420 [btrfs] [372.599264] btrfs_qgroup_rescan_worker+0xc13/0x10c0 [btrfs] [372.607157] ? lock_release+0x3a9/0x6d0 [372.613054] ? btrfs_qgroup_account_extent+0xda0/0xda0 [btrfs] [372.620960] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x11e/0x250 [372.627137] ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90 [372.633215] ? lock_is_held_type+0xe4/0x140 [372.639404] btrfs_work_helper+0x1ae/0xa90 [btrfs] [372.646268] process_one_work+0x7e9/0x1320 [372.652321] ? lock_release+0x6d0/0x6d0 [372.658081] ? pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0x230/0x230 [372.664513] ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90 [372.670529] worker_thread+0x59e/0xf90 [372.676172] ? process_one_work+0x1320/0x1320 [372.682440] kthread+0x3b9/0x490 [372.687550] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x24/0x50 [372.693811] ? set_kthread_struct+0x100/0x100 [372.700052] ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30 [372.705517] </TASK> [372.709747] INFO: task btrfs-transacti:2347 blocked for more than 123 seconds. [372.729827] Not tainted 5.16.0-rc8 #7 [372.745907] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. [372.767106] task:btrfs-transacti state:D stack: 0 pid: 2347 ppid: 2 flags:0x00004000 [372.787776] Call Trace: [372.801652] <TASK> [372.812961] __schedule+0xb56/0x4850 [372.830011] ? io_schedule_timeout+0x190/0x190 [372.852547] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x7e/0x100 [372.871761] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x3e/0x60 [372.886792] schedule+0xe0/0x270 [372.901685] wait_current_trans+0x22c/0x310 [btrfs] [372.919743] ? btrfs_put_transaction+0x3d0/0x3d0 [btrfs] [372.938923] ? finish_wait+0x270/0x270 [372.959085] ? join_transaction+0xc7 ---truncated---
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 4.4 and later | 5.4.178, 5.10.99, 5.15.22, 5.16.8, 5.17 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.4 and later Fixed in 5.4.178, 5.10.99, 5.15.22, 5.16.8, 5.17 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 5.4.178; 5.5 to before 5.10.99; 5.11 to before 5.15.22; 5.16 to before 5.16.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 5.4.178; 5.5 to before 5.10.99; 5.11 to before 5.15.22; 5.16 to before 5.16.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.178, 5.10.99, 5.15.22, 5.16.8, 5.17
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-48734
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-wrfr-rmr8-j7gx
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/26b3901d20bf9da2c6a00cb1fb48932166f80a45
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/32747e01436aac8ef93fe85b5b523b4f3b52f040
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/89d4cca583fc9594ee7d1a0bc986886d6fb587e6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31198e58c09e21d4f65c49d2361f76b87aca4c3f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e804861bd4e69cc5fe1053eedcb024982dde8e48
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- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2022-48734 · CVE Program
- CVE-2022-48734 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-wrfr-rmr8-j7gx · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2022-48734 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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