CVE-2025-39738 | btrfs: do not allow relocation of partially dropped subvolumes

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.

Published: 2025-09-11 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-39738 is rated Low Risk (33/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2025-39738

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 2025-09-12 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-39738

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-39738

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-39738

GHSA-8x83-vv5w-vmh3 · Severity: high — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: do not allow...

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-39738

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-39738 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-39738
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39738
suse medium CVE-2025-39738 severity moderate: SUSE including 448 source package names (2.1.3-6.80:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-35.1.21.12, 2.1.3-7.57:kernel-default-6.4.0-35.1, …), 871 product×package rows across 177 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (177 product lines)): Fixed 619, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39738/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-39738 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 180, released 150, needed 48, not-affected 16, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-39738

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-39738

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11.1, < 5.15.190 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.149 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.103 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.43 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.16, < 6.16.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.11:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-39738

cvelogic Threat Intelligence