btrfs: lock the inode in shared mode before starting fiemap
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: 2 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: lock the inode in shared mode before starting fiemap Currently fiemap does not take the inode's lock (VFS lock), it only locks a file range in the inode's io tree. This however can lead to a deadlock if we have a concurrent fsync on the file and fiemap code triggers a fault when accessing the user space buffer with fiemap_fill_next_extent(). The deadlock happens on the inode's i_mmap_lock semaphore, which is taken both by fsync and btrfs_page_mkwrite(). This deadlock was recently reported by syzbot and triggers a trace like the following: task:syz-executor361 state:D stack:20264 pid:5668 ppid:5119 flags:0x00004004 Call Trace: <TASK> context_switch kernel/sched/core.c:5293 [inline] __schedule+0x995/0xe20 kernel/sched/core.c:6606 schedule+0xcb/0x190 kernel/sched/core.c:6682 wait_on_state fs/btrfs/extent-io-tree.c:707 [inline] wait_extent_bit+0x577/0x6f0 fs/btrfs/extent-io-tree.c:751 lock_extent+0x1c2/0x280 fs/btrfs/extent-io-tree.c:1742 find_lock_delalloc_range+0x4e6/0x9c0 fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:488 writepage_delalloc+0x1ef/0x540 fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:1863 __extent_writepage+0x736/0x14e0 fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:2174 extent_write_cache_pages+0x983/0x1220 fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:3091 extent_writepages+0x219/0x540 fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:3211 do_writepages+0x3c3/0x680 mm/page-writeback.c:2581 filemap_fdatawrite_wbc+0x11e/0x170 mm/filemap.c:388 __filemap_fdatawrite_range mm/filemap.c:421 [inline] filemap_fdatawrite_range+0x175/0x200 mm/filemap.c:439 btrfs_fdatawrite_range fs/btrfs/file.c:3850 [inline] start_ordered_ops fs/btrfs/file.c:1737 [inline] btrfs_sync_file+0x4ff/0x1190 fs/btrfs/file.c:1839 generic_write_sync include/linux/fs.h:2885 [inline] btrfs_do_write_iter+0xcd3/0x1280 fs/btrfs/file.c:1684 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2189 [inline] new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline] vfs_write+0x7dc/0xc50 fs/read_write.c:584 ksys_write+0x177/0x2a0 fs/read_write.c:637 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f7d4054e9b9 RSP: 002b:00007f7d404fa2f8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f7d405d87a0 RCX: 00007f7d4054e9b9 RDX: 0000000000000090 RSI: 0000000020000000 RDI: 0000000000000006 RBP: 00007f7d405a51d0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 61635f65646f6e69 R13: 65646f7475616f6e R14: 7261637369646f6e R15: 00007f7d405d87a8 </TASK> INFO: task syz-executor361:5697 blocked for more than 145 seconds. Not tainted 6.2.0-rc3-syzkaller-00376-g7c6984405241 #0 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. task:syz-executor361 state:D stack:21216 pid:5697 ppid:5119 flags:0x00004004 Call Trace: <TASK> context_switch kernel/sched/core.c:5293 [inline] __schedule+0x995/0xe20 kernel/sched/core.c:6606 schedule+0xcb/0x190 kernel/sched/core.c:6682 rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0x5f9/0x930 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1095 __down_read_common+0x54/0x2a0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1260 btrfs_page_mkwrite+0x417/0xc80 fs/btrfs/inode.c:8526 do_page_mkwrite+0x19e/0x5e0 mm/memory.c:2947 wp_page_shared+0x15e/0x380 mm/memory.c:3295 handle_pte_fault mm/memory.c:4949 [inline] __handle_mm_fault mm/memory.c:5073 [inline] handle_mm_fault+0x1b79/0x26b0 mm/memory.c:5219 do_user_addr_fault+0x69b/0xcb0 arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1428 handle_page_fault arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1519 [inline] exc_page_fault+0x7a/0x110 arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1575 asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:570 RIP: 0010:copy_user_short_string+0xd/0x40 arch/x86/lib/copy_user_64.S:233 Code: 74 0a 89 (...) RSP: 0018:ffffc9000570f330 EFLAGS: 000502 ---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 | 5.13 and later | 5.15.209, 6.1.13, 6.2 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.13 and later Fixed in 5.15.209, 6.1.13, 6.2 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 8
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 6.1.13 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc7 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 6.1.13 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc7 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.209, 6.1.13, 6.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-52737
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-x5vm-26pp-xff5
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- 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-2023-52737 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-52737 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x5vm-26pp-xff5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-52737 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences