Linux Kernel up to 5.15.74/5.19.16/6.0.2 btrfs_clean_tree_block buffer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.74/5.19.16/6.0.2. Affected is the function btrfs_clean_tree_block. Such manipulation leads to buffer overflow. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-50766. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.74/5.19.16/6.0.2. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function btrfs_clean_tree_block. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: set generation before calling btrfs_clean_tree_block in btrfs_init_new_buffer syzbot is reporting uninit-value in btrfs_clean_tree_block() [1], for commit bc877d285ca3dba2 ("btrfs: Deduplicate extent_buffer init code") missed that btrfs_set_header_generation() in btrfs_init_new_buffer() must not be moved to after clean_tree_block() because clean_tree_block() is calling btrfs_header_generation() since commit 55c69072d6bd5be1 ("Btrfs: Fix extent_buffer usage when nodesize != leafsize"). Since memzero_extent_buffer() will reset "struct btrfs_header" part, we can't move btrfs_set_header_generation() to before memzero_extent_buffer(). Just re-add btrfs_set_header_generation() before btrfs_clean_tree_block().

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-50766 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 04/21/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279816 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-50766), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.75, 5.19.17 or 6.0.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0a408c6212c16b9a2a1141d3c531247582ef8101/a687c2890fe4a2acaac6941fa4097a1264d8f3eb/89bc41c92d10b905c60f6ec13c9ef664a3555c54/cbddcc4fa3443fe8cfb2ff8e210deb1f6a0eea38 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 (279816) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.19.0
• 5.19.1
• 5.19.2
• 5.19.3
• 5.19.4
• 5.19.5
• 5.19.6
• 5.19.7
• 5.19.8
• 5.19.9
• 5.19.10
• 5.19.11
• 5.19.12
• 5.19.13
• 5.19.14
• 5.19.15
• 5.19.16
• 6.0.0
• 6.0.1
• 6.0.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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