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🛡️ CVE-2023-54067 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

btrfs: fix race when deleting free space root from the dirty cow roots list

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: fix race when deleting free space root from the dirty cow roots list

When deleting the free space tree we are deleting the free space root

from the list fs_info->dirty_cowonly_roots without taking the lock that

protects it, which is struct btrfs_fs_info::trans_lock.

This unsynchronized list manipulation may cause chaos if there's another

concurrent manipulation of this list, such as when adding a root to it

with ctree.c:add_root_to_dirty_list().

This can result in all sorts of weird failures caused by a race, such as

the following crash:

[337571.278245] general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdead000000000108: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI

[337571.278933] CPU: 1 PID: 115447 Comm: btrfs Tainted: G W 6.4.0-rc6-btrfs-next-134+ #1

[337571.279153] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

[337571.279572] RIP: 0010:commit_cowonly_roots+0x11f/0x250 [btrfs]

[337571.279928] Code: 85 38 06 00 (...)

[337571.280363] RSP: 0018:ffff9f63446efba0 EFLAGS: 00010206

[337571.280582] RAX: ffff942d98ec2638 RBX: ffff9430b82b4c30 RCX: 0000000449e1c000

[337571.280798] RDX: dead000000000100 RSI: ffff9430021e4900 RDI: 0000000000036070

[337571.281015] RBP: ffff942d98ec2000 R08: ffff942d98ec2000 R09: 000000000000015b

[337571.281254] R10: 0000000000000009 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff942fe8fbf600

[337571.281476] R13: ffff942dabe23040 R14: ffff942dabe20800 R15: ffff942d92cf3b48

[337571.281723] FS: 00007f478adb7340(0000) GS:ffff94349fa40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000

[337571.281950] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033

[337571.282184] CR2: 00007f478ab9a3d5 CR3: 000000001e02c001 CR4: 0000000000370ee0

[337571.282416] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000

[337571.282647] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400

[337571.282874] Call Trace:

[337571.283101] <TASK>

[337571.283327] ? __die_body+0x1b/0x60

[337571.283570] ? die_addr+0x39/0x60

[337571.283796] ? exc_general_protection+0x22e/0x430

[337571.284022] ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x22/0x30

[337571.284251] ? commit_cowonly_roots+0x11f/0x250 [btrfs]

[337571.284531] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x42e/0xf90 [btrfs]

[337571.284803] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x15/0x30

[337571.285031] ? release_extent_buffer+0x103/0x130 [btrfs]

[337571.285305] reset_balance_state+0x152/0x1b0 [btrfs]

[337571.285578] btrfs_balance+0xa50/0x11e0 [btrfs]

[337571.285864] ? __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x14a/0x410

[337571.286086] btrfs_ioctl+0x249a/0x3320 [btrfs]

[337571.286358] ? mod_objcg_state+0xd2/0x360

[337571.286577] ? refill_obj_stock+0xb0/0x160

[337571.286798] ? seq_release+0x25/0x30

[337571.287016] ? __rseq_handle_notify_resume+0x3ba/0x4b0

[337571.287235] ? percpu_counter_add_batch+0x2e/0xa0

[337571.287455] ? __x64_sys_ioctl+0x88/0xc0

[337571.287675] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x88/0xc0

[337571.287901] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x90

[337571.288126] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

[337571.288352] RIP: 0033:0x7f478aaffe9b

So fix this by locking struct btrfs_fs_info::trans_lock before deleting

the free space root from that list.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. A user must be tricked into taking some action. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: Required — someone has to click, open or visit something.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-54067 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.4.4)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 24 December 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-12-24
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.4.4
unknown — —

Similar Threats

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