CVE-2025-22115 | btrfs: fix block group refcount race in btrfs_create_pending_block_groups()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix block group refcount race in btrfs_create_pending_block_groups() Block group creation is done in two phases, which results in a slightly unintuitive property: a block group can be allocated/deallocated from after btrfs_make_block_group() adds it to the space_info with btrfs_add_bg_to_space_info(), but before creation is completely completed in btrfs_create_pending_block_groups(). As a result, it is possible for a block group to go unused and have 'btrfs_mark_bg_unused' called on it concurrently with 'btrfs_create_pending_block_groups'. This causes a number of issues, which were fixed with the block group flag 'BLOCK_GROUP_FLAG_NEW'. However, this fix is not quite complete. Since it does not use the unused_bg_lock, it is possible for the following race to occur: btrfs_create_pending_block_groups btrfs_mark_bg_unused if list_empty // false list_del_init clear_bit else if (test_bit) // true list_move_tail And we get into the exact same broken ref count and invalid new_bgs state for transaction cleanup that BLOCK_GROUP_FLAG_NEW was designed to prevent. The broken refcount aspect will result in a warning like: [1272.943527] refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. [1272.943967] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 61 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 [1272.944731] Modules linked in: btrfs virtio_net xor zstd_compress raid6_pq null_blk [last unloaded: btrfs] [1272.945550] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 61 Comm: kworker/u32:1 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W 6.14.0-rc5+ #108 [1272.946368] Tainted: [W]=WARN [1272.946585] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS Arch Linux 1.16.3-1-1 04/01/2014 [1272.947273] Workqueue: btrfs_discard btrfs_discard_workfn [btrfs] [1272.947788] RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 [1272.949532] RSP: 0018:ffffbf1200247df0 EFLAGS: 00010282 [1272.949901] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffa14b00e3f800 RCX: 0000000000000000 [1272.950437] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffbf1200247c78 RDI: 00000000ffffdfff [1272.950986] RBP: ffffa14b00dc2860 R08: 00000000ffffdfff R09: ffffffff90526268 [1272.951512] R10: ffffffff904762c0 R11: 0000000063666572 R12: ffffa14b00dc28c0 [1272.952024] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffffa14b00dc2868 R15: 000001285dcd12c0 [1272.952850] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffffa14d33c40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [1272.953458] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [1272.953931] CR2: 00007f838cbda000 CR3: 000000010104e000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 [1272.954474] Call Trace: [1272.954655] <TASK> [1272.954812] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 [1272.955173] ? __warn.cold+0x93/0xd7 [1272.955487] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 [1272.955816] ? report_bug+0xe7/0x120 [1272.956103] ? handle_bug+0x53/0x90 [1272.956424] ? exc_invalid_op+0x13/0x60 [1272.956700] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 [1272.957011] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 [1272.957399] btrfs_discard_cancel_work.cold+0x26/0x2b [btrfs] [1272.957853] btrfs_put_block_group.cold+0x5d/0x8e [btrfs] [1272.958289] btrfs_discard_workfn+0x194/0x380 [btrfs] [1272.958729] process_one_work+0x130/0x290 [1272.959026] worker_thread+0x2ea/0x420 [1272.959335] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [1272.959644] kthread+0xd7/0x1c0 [1272.959872] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [1272.960172] ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 [1272.960474] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [1272.960745] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [1272.961035] </TASK> [1272.961238] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Though we have seen them in the async discard workfn as well. It is most likely to happen after a relocation finishes which cancels discard, tears down the block group, etc. Fix this fully by taking the lock arou ---truncated---

Published: 2025-04-16 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-22115 is rated Low Risk (19.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2025-22115

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 2025-04-17 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-22115

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
1.0 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-22115

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-22115

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-22115 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-2025-22115
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-22115
suse high CVE-2025-22115 severity important: SUSE including 456 source package names (2.1.3-6.27:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-29.1.21.7, 2.1.3-7.33:kernel-rt-6.4.0-31.1, …), 856 product×package rows across 145 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (145 product lines)): Fixed 412, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 213. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-22115/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-22115 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 164, released 130, not-affected 107, needed 2, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-22115

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-22115

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1.47, < 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.4.12, < 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.5.1, < 6.12.40 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.14.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.5:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-22115

cvelogic Threat Intelligence