Critical severity · published Dec 24, 2025
CVE-2025-68359
btrfs: fix double free of qgroup record after failure to add delayed ref head
9.8
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: fix double free of qgroup record after failure to add delayed ref head
In the previous code it was possible to incur into a double kfree()
scenario when calling add_delayed_ref_head(). This could happen if the
record was reported to already exist in the
btrfs_qgroup_trace_extent_nolock() call, but then there was an error
later on add_delayed_ref_head(). In this case, since
add_delayed_ref_head() returned an error, the caller went to free the
record. Since add_delayed_ref_head() couldn't set this kfree'd pointer
to NULL, then kfree() would have acted on a non-NULL 'record' object
which was pointing to memory already freed by the callee.
The problem comes from the fact that the responsibility to kfree the
object is on both the caller and the callee at the same time. Hence, the
fix for this is to shift the ownership of the 'qrecord' object out of
the add_delayed_ref_head(). That is, we will never attempt to kfree()
the given object inside of this function, and will expect the caller to
act on the 'qrecord' object on its own. The only exception where the
'qrecord' object cannot be kfree'd is if it was inserted into the
tracing logic, for which we already have the 'qrecord_inserted_ret'
boolean to account for this. Hence, the caller has to kfree the object
only if add_delayed_ref_head() reports not to have inserted it on the
tracing logic.
As a side-effect of the above, we must guarantee that
'qrecord_inserted_ret' is properly initialized at the start of the
function, not at the end, and then set when an actual insert
happens. This way we avoid 'qrecord_inserted_ret' having an invalid
value on an early exit.
The documentation from the add_delayed_ref_head() has also been updated
to reflect on the exact ownership of the 'qrecord' object.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 50% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
6ef8fbce010421bf742b12b8f8f2b2d2ff154845 before 82d46660ebd94c269e3f25a77eb563621d8e67e3; 6ef8fbce010421bf742b12b8f8f2b2d2ff154845 before 7617680769e3119dfb3b43a2b7c287ce2242211c; 6ef8fbce010421bf742b12b8f8f2b2d2ff154845 before 364685c4c2d9c9f4408d95451bcf42fdeebc3ebb; 6ef8fbce010421bf742b12b8f8f2b2d2ff154845 before 725e46298876a2cc1f1c3fb22ba69d29102c3ddf; 6.12 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68359
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68359
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/364685c4c2d9c9f4408d95451bcf42fdeebc3ebb
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/725e46298876a2cc1f1c3fb22ba69d29102c3ddf
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7617680769e3119dfb3b43a2b7c287ce2242211c
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82d46660ebd94c269e3f25a77eb563621d8e67e3
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