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TI-2025-26414 Aliases CVE-2025-39738GHSA-8x83-vv5w-vmh3

btrfs: do not allow relocation of partially dropped subvolumes

Priority LOW 33Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: do not allow relocation of partially dropped subvolumes [BUG] There is an internal report that balance triggered transaction abort, with the following call trace: item 85 key (594509824 169 0) itemoff 12599 itemsize 33 extent refs 1 gen 197740 flags 2 ref#0: tree block backref root 7 item 86 key (594558976 169 0) itemoff 12566 itemsize 33 extent refs 1 gen 197522 flags 2 ref#0: tree block backref root 7 ... BTRFS error (device loop0): extent item not found for insert, bytenr 594526208 num_bytes 16384 parent 449921024 root_objectid 934 owner 1 offset 0 BTRFS error (device loop0): failed to run delayed ref for logical 594526208 num_bytes 16384 type 182 action 1 ref_mod 1: -117 ------------[ cut here ]------------ BTRFS: Transaction aborted (error -117) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 6963 at ../fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c:2168 btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0xfa/0x110 [btrfs] And btrfs check doesn't report anything wrong related to the extent tree. [CAUSE] The cause is a little complex, firstly the extent tree indeed doesn't have the backref for 594526208. The extent tree only have the following two backrefs around that bytenr on-disk: item 65 key (594509824 METADATA_ITEM 0) itemoff 13880 itemsize 33 refs 1 gen 197740 flags TREE_BLOCK tree block skinny level 0 (176 0x7) tree block backref root CSUM_TREE item 66 key (594558976 METADATA_ITEM 0) itemoff 13847 itemsize 33 refs 1 gen 197522 flags TREE_BLOCK tree block skinny level 0 (176 0x7) tree block backref root CSUM_TREE But the such missing backref item is not an corruption on disk, as the offending delayed ref belongs to subvolume 934, and that subvolume is being dropped: item 0 key (934 ROOT_ITEM 198229) itemoff 15844 itemsize 439 generation 198229 root_dirid 256 bytenr 10741039104 byte_limit 0 bytes_used 345571328 last_snapshot 198229 flags 0x1000000000001(RDONLY) refs 0 drop_progress key (206324 EXTENT_DATA 2711650304) drop_level 2 level 2 generation_v2 198229 And that offending tree block 594526208 is inside the dropped range of that subvolume. That explains why there is no backref item for that bytenr and why btrfs check is not reporting anything wrong. But this also shows another problem, as btrfs will do all the orphan subvolume cleanup at a read-write mount. So half-dropped subvolume should not exist after an RW mount, and balance itself is also exclusive to subvolume cleanup, meaning we shouldn't hit a subvolume half-dropped during relocation. The root cause is, there is no orphan item for this subvolume. In fact there are 5 subvolumes from around 2021 that have the same problem. It looks like the original report has some older kernels running, and caused those zombie subvolumes. Thankfully upstream commit 8d488a8c7ba2 ("btrfs: fix subvolume/snapshot deletion not triggered on mount") has long fixed the bug. [ENHANCEMENT] For repairing such old fs, btrfs-progs will be enhanced. Considering how delayed the problem will show up (at run delayed ref time) and at that time we have to abort transaction already, it is too late. Instead here we reject any half-dropped subvolume for reloc tree at the earliest time, preventing confusion and extra time wasted on debugging similar bugs.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00175 7th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103 +4Red Hat: 2 without a fix

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux5.11 and later5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.11 and later Fixed in 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 9

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11.1 to before 5.15.190; 5.16 to before 6.1.149; 6.2 to before 6.6.103; 6.7 to before 6.12.43; 6.13 to before 6.15.11; 6.16 to before 6.16.2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:-:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11 rc5VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11 rc6VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*5.11 rc7VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*6.17 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*11.0VulnerableDebian
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11.1 to before 5.15.190; 5.16 to before 6.1.149; 6.2 to before 6.6.103; 6.7 to before 6.12.43; 6.13 to before 6.15.11; 6.16 to before 6.16.2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:-:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.11 rc7 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.17 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 11.0 Vulnerable ·Debian

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 3 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-39738
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-8x83-vv5w-vmh3
  3. 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

  • 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
See all 15278 →

Sources