CVE-2025-21752 | btrfs: don't use btrfs_set_item_key_safe on RAID stripe-extents

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: don't use btrfs_set_item_key_safe on RAID stripe-extents Don't use btrfs_set_item_key_safe() to modify the keys in the RAID stripe-tree, as this can lead to corruption of the tree, which is caught by the checks in btrfs_set_item_key_safe(): BTRFS info (device nvme1n1): leaf 49168384 gen 15 total ptrs 194 free space 8329 owner 12 BTRFS info (device nvme1n1): refs 2 lock_owner 1030 current 1030 [ snip ] item 105 key (354549760 230 20480) itemoff 14587 itemsize 16 stride 0 devid 5 physical 67502080 item 106 key (354631680 230 4096) itemoff 14571 itemsize 16 stride 0 devid 1 physical 88559616 item 107 key (354631680 230 32768) itemoff 14555 itemsize 16 stride 0 devid 1 physical 88555520 item 108 key (354717696 230 28672) itemoff 14539 itemsize 16 stride 0 devid 2 physical 67604480 [ snip ] BTRFS critical (device nvme1n1): slot 106 key (354631680 230 32768) new key (354635776 230 4096) ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/ctree.c:2602! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1055 Comm: fsstress Not tainted 6.13.0-rc1+ #1464 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-3-gd478f380-rebuilt.opensuse.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:btrfs_set_item_key_safe+0xf7/0x270 Code: <snip> RSP: 0018:ffffc90001337ab0 EFLAGS: 00010287 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8881115fd000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 00000000ffffffff RBP: ffff888110ed6f50 R08: 00000000ffffefff R09: ffffffff8244c500 R10: 00000000ffffefff R11: 00000000ffffffff R12: ffff888100586000 R13: 00000000000000c9 R14: ffffc90001337b1f R15: ffff888110f23b58 FS: 00007f7d75c72740(0000) GS:ffff88813bd00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fa811652c60 CR3: 0000000111398001 CR4: 0000000000370eb0 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body.cold+0x14/0x1a ? die+0x2e/0x50 ? do_trap+0xca/0x110 ? do_error_trap+0x65/0x80 ? btrfs_set_item_key_safe+0xf7/0x270 ? exc_invalid_op+0x50/0x70 ? btrfs_set_item_key_safe+0xf7/0x270 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20 ? btrfs_set_item_key_safe+0xf7/0x270 btrfs_partially_delete_raid_extent+0xc4/0xe0 btrfs_delete_raid_extent+0x227/0x240 __btrfs_free_extent.isra.0+0x57f/0x9c0 ? exc_coproc_segment_overrun+0x40/0x40 __btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0x2fa/0xe80 btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0x81/0xe0 btrfs_commit_transaction+0x2dd/0xbe0 ? preempt_count_add+0x52/0xb0 btrfs_sync_file+0x375/0x4c0 do_fsync+0x39/0x70 __x64_sys_fsync+0x13/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x54/0x110 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7f7d7550ef90 Code: <snip> RSP: 002b:00007ffd70237248 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000004a RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000004 RCX: 00007f7d7550ef90 RDX: 000000000000013a RSI: 000000000040eb28 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 000000000000001b R08: 0000000000000078 R09: 00007ffd7023725c R10: 00007f7d75400390 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 028f5c28f5c28f5c R13: 8f5c28f5c28f5c29 R14: 000000000040b520 R15: 00007f7d75c726c8 </TASK> While the root cause of the tree order corruption isn't clear, using btrfs_duplicate_item() to copy the item and then adjusting both the key and the per-device physical addresses is a safe way to counter this problem.

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2025-10-28 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21752 is rated Low Risk (28.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-21752

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-07 0.04% 0.06% +0.03%
2 2025-10-29 0.06% 0.04% -0.02%
3 2025-08-16 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21752

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-21752

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21752

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-21752 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21752
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21752
suse high CVE-2025-21752 severity important: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 248 product×package rows across 46 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 12 SP5, … (46 product lines)): Known Not Affected 248. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21752/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21752 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 169, needed 108, released 92, not-affected 37. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21752

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21752

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.13.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21752

cvelogic Threat Intelligence