Linux Kernel up to 6.18-rc1 free-space-tree.c populate_free_space_tree assertion

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.157/6.6.113/6.12.54/6.17.4/6.18-rc1. It has been classified as critical. The affected element is the function populate_free_space_tree of the file fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c. The manipulation leads to assertion. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2025-40100. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.157/6.6.113/6.12.54/6.17.4/6.18-rc1. This issue affects the function populate_free_space_tree of the file fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a assertion vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-617. The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: do not assert we found block group item when creating free space tree Currently, when building a free space tree at populate_free_space_tree(), if we are not using the block group tree feature, we always expect to find block group items (either extent items or a block group item with key type BTRFS_BLOCK_GROUP_ITEM_KEY) when we search the extent tree with btrfs_search_slot_for_read(), so we assert that we found an item. However this expectation is wrong since we can have a new block group created in the current transaction which is still empty and for which we still have not added the block group's item to the extent tree, in which case we do not have any items in the extent tree associated to the block group. The insertion of a new block group's block group item in the extent tree happens at btrfs_create_pending_block_groups() when it calls the helper insert_block_group_item(). This typically is done when a transaction handle is released, committed or when running delayed refs (either as part of a transaction commit or when serving tickets for space reservation if we are low on free space). So remove the assertion at populate_free_space_tree() even when the block group tree feature is not enabled and update the comment to mention this case. Syzbot reported this with the following stack trace: BTRFS info (device loop3 state M): rebuilding free space tree assertion failed: ret == 0 :: 0, in fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1115 ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1115! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN PTI CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 6352 Comm: syz.3.25 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/18/2025 RIP: 0010:populate_free_space_tree+0x700/0x710 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1115 Code: ff ff e8 d3 (...) RSP: 0018:ffffc9000430f780 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000043 RBX: ffff88805b709630 RCX: fea61d0e2e79d000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000080000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffc9000430f8b0 R08: ffffc9000430f4a7 R09: 1ffff92000861e94 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffff52000861e95 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 1ffff92000861f00 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f424d9fe6c0(0000) GS:ffff888125afc000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fd78ad212c0 CR3: 0000000076d68000 CR4: 00000000003526f0 Call Trace: <TASK> btrfs_rebuild_free_space_tree+0x1ba/0x6d0 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1364 btrfs_start_pre_rw_mount+0x128f/0x1bf0 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:3062 btrfs_remount_rw fs/btrfs/super.c:1334 [inline] btrfs_reconfigure+0xaed/0x2160 fs/btrfs/super.c:1559 reconfigure_super+0x227/0x890 fs/super.c:1076 do_remount fs/namespace.c:3279 [inline] path_mount+0xd1a/0xfe0 fs/namespace.c:4027 do_mount fs/namespace.c:4048 [inline] __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4236 [inline] __se_sys_mount+0x313/0x410 fs/namespace.c:4213 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xfa/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f424e39066a Code: d8 64 89 02 (...) RSP: 002b:00007f424d9fde68 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f424d9fdef0 RCX: 00007f424e39066a RDX: 0000200000000180 RSI: 0000200000000380 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: 0000200000000180 R08: 00007f424d9fdef0 R09: 0000000000000020 R10: 0000000000000020 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000200000000380 R13: 00007f424d9fdeb0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00002000000002c0 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-40100 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 272052 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40100), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.158, 6.6.114, 6.12.55, 6.17.5 or 6.18-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 4f4b9ca73f84130d9fbb0fc02306ce94ce8bdbe6/289498da343b05c886f19b4269429606f86dd17b/3fdcfd91b93f930d87843156c7c8cc5fbcf9b144/eb145463f22d7d32d426b29fe9810de9e792b6ba/a5a51bf4e9b7354ce7cd697e610d72c1b33fd949 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (272052) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2450). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.157
• 6.6.113
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.18-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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