CVE-2026-23018
lowCVSS v3 Base Score
5.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score
0.0%
Exploitation probability in 30 days
Top 93% most likely to be exploited
Attack Characteristics
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Vulnerability Report
Generated by CyberWatcher
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: release path before initializing extent tree in btrfs_read_locked_inode()
In btrfs_read_locked_inode() we are calling btrfs_init_file_extent_tree()
while holding a path with a read locked leaf from a subvolume tree, and
btrfs_init_file_extent_tree() may do a GFP_KERNEL allocation, which can
trigger reclaim.
This can create a circular lock dependency which lockdep warns about with
the following splat:
[6.1433] ======================================================
[6.1574] WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
[6.1583] 6.18.0+ #4 Tainted: G U
[6.1591] ------------------------------------------------------
[6.1599] kswapd0/117 is trying to acquire lock:
[6.1606] ffff8d9b6333c5b8 (&delayed_node->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_release_delayed_node.part.0+0x39/0x2f0
[6.1625]
but task is already holding lock:
[6.1633] ffffffffa4ab8ce0 (fs_reclaim){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: balance_pgdat+0x195/0xc60
[6.1646]
which lock already depends on the new lock.
[6.1657]
the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:
[6.1667]
-> #2 (fs_reclaim){+.+.}-{0:0}:
[6.1677] fs_reclaim_acquire+0x9d/0xd0
[6.1685] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x59/0x750
[6.1694] btrfs_init_file_extent_tree+0x90/0x100
[6.1702] btrfs_read_locked_inode+0xc3/0x6b0
[6.1710] btrfs_iget+0xbb/0xf0
[6.1716] btrfs_lookup_dentry+0x3c5/0x8e0
[6.1724] btrfs_lookup+0x12/0x30
[6.1731] lookup_open.isra.0+0x1aa/0x6a0
[6.1739] path_openat+0x5f7/0xc60
[6.1746] do_filp_open+0xd6/0x180
[6.1753] do_sys_openat2+0x8b/0xe0
[6.1760] __x64_sys_openat+0x54/0xa0
[6.1768] do_syscall_64+0x97/0x3e0
[6.1776] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
[6.1784]
-> #1 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}:
[6.1794] lock_release+0x127/0x2a0
[6.1801] up_read+0x1b/0x30
[6.1808] btrfs_search_slot+0x8e0/0xff0
[6.1817] btrfs_lookup_inode+0x52/0xd0
[6.1825] __btrfs_update_delayed_inode+0x73/0x520
[6.1833] btrfs_commit_inode_delayed_inode+0x11a/0x120
[6.1842] btrfs_log_inode+0x608/0x1aa0
[6.1849] btrfs_log_inode_parent+0x249/0xf80
[6.1857] btrfs_log_dentry_safe+0x3e/0x60
[6.1865] btrfs_sync_file+0x431/0x690
[6.1872] do_fsync+0x39/0x80
[6.1879] __x64_sys_fsync+0x13/0x20
[6.1887] do_syscall_64+0x97/0x3e0
[6.1894] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
[6.1903]
-> #0 (&delayed_node->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}:
[6.1913] __lock_acquire+0x15e9/0x2820
[6.1920] lock_acquire+0xc9/0x2d0
[6.1927] __mutex_lock+0xcc/0x10a0
[6.1934] __btrfs_release_delayed_node.part.0+0x39/0x2f0
[6.1944] btrfs_evict_inode+0x20b/0x4b0
[6.1952] evict+0x15a/0x2f0
[6.1958] prune_icache_sb+0x91/0xd0
[6.1966] super_cache_scan+0x150/0x1d0
[6.1974] do_shrink_slab+0x155/0x6f0
[6.1981] shrink_slab+0x48e/0x890
[6.1988] shrink_one+0x11a/0x1f0
[6.1995] shrink_node+0xbfd/0x1320
[6.1002] balance_pgdat+0x67f/0xc60
[6.1321] kswapd+0x1dc/0x3e0
[6.1643] kthread+0xff/0x240
[6.1965] ret_from_fork+0x223/0x280
[6.1287] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
[6.1616]
other info that might help us debug this:
[6.1561] Chain exists of:
&delayed_node->mutex --> btrfs-tree-00 --> fs_reclaim
[6.1503] Possible unsafe locking scenario:
[6.1110] CPU0 CPU1
[6.1411] ---- ----
[6.1707] lock(fs_reclaim);
[6.1998] lock(btrfs-tree-00);
[6.1291] lock(fs_reclaim);
[6.1581] lock(&del
---truncated---
CWE
CWE-833Affected Products
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9