CVE-2026-64593
Received Received - Intake

NULL Pointer Dereference in Btrfs Filesystem Trim Operation

Publication date: 2026-08-06

Last updated on: 2026-08-06

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: do not trim a device which is not writeable [BUG] There is a bug report that btrfs/242 can randomly fail with the following NULL pointer dereference: run fstests btrfs/242 at 2026-06-01 10:25:08 BTRFS: device fsid d4d7f234-487c-4787-88e4-47a8b68c9874 devid 1 transid 9 /dev/sdc (8:32) scanned by mount (122609) BTRFS info (device sdc): first mount of filesystem d4d7f234-487c-4787-88e4-47a8b68c9874 BTRFS info (device sdc): using crc32c checksum algorithm BTRFS warning (device sdc): devid 2 uuid fbe72d72-3272-482d-80fb-ab88ed398192 is missing BTRFS warning (device sdc): devid 2 uuid fbe72d72-3272-482d-80fb-ab88ed398192 is missing BTRFS info (device sdc): allowing degraded mounts BTRFS info (device sdc): turning on async discard BTRFS info (device sdc): enabling free space tree Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000018 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000013fd6b000 CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 122625 Comm: fstrim Not tainted 7.0.10-2-default #1 PREEMPT(full) openSUSE Tumbleweed e9a5f6b24978fba3bf015a992f865837fdfff3dd Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS edk2-20250812-19.fc42 08/12/2025 pstate: 01400005 (nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : btrfs_trim_fs+0x34c/0xa00 [btrfs] lr : btrfs_trim_fs+0x1f0/0xa00 [btrfs] Call trace: btrfs_trim_fs+0x34c/0xa00 [btrfs f02c1d570ceea621c69d302ba75dd61868083840] (P) btrfs_ioctl_fitrim+0xe8/0x178 [btrfs f02c1d570ceea621c69d302ba75dd61868083840] btrfs_ioctl+0xdd4/0x2bd8 [btrfs f02c1d570ceea621c69d302ba75dd61868083840] __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xac/0x108 invoke_syscall.constprop.0+0x5c/0xd0 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x40/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x40 el0_svc+0x40/0x1d0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe8 el0t_64_sync+0x1b0/0x1b8 Code: 17ffff83 f94017e0 f9002be0 f9402ea0 (f9400c00) ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Also the reporter is very kind to test the following ASSERT() added to btrfs_trim_free_extents_throttle(): ASSERT(device->bdev, "devid=%llu path=%s dev_state=0x%lx\n", device->devid, btrfs_dev_name(device), device->dev_state); And it shows the following output: assertion failed: device->bdev, in extent-tree.c:6630 (devid=2 path=/dev/sdd dev_state=0x82) Which means the device->bdev is NULL, and the dev_state is BTRFS_DEV_STATE_IN_FS_METADATA | BTRFS_DEV_STATE_ITEM_FOUND, without BTRFS_DEV_STATE_WRITEABLE flag set. [CAUSE] The pc points to the following call chain: btrfs_trim_fs() |- btrfs_trim_free_extents() |- btrfs_trim_free_extents_throttle() |- bdev_max_discard_sectors(device->bdev) So the NULL pointer dereference is caused by device->bdev being NULL. This looks impossible by a quick glance, as just before calling btrfs_trim_free_extents_throttle(), we have skipped any device that has BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING flag set. However in this particular case, there is a window where the missing device is later re-scanned, causing btrfs to remove the BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING flag: btrfs_control_ioctl() |- btrfs_scan_one_device() |- device_list_add() |- rcu_assign_pointer(device->name, name); | This updates the missing device's path to the new good path. | |- clear_bit(BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING, &device->dev_state) This removes the BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING flag. This allows the missing device to re-appear and clear the BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING flag. However the device still does not have the BTRFS_DEV_STATE_WRITEABLE flag set, nor is its bdev pointer updated. The bdev pointer remains NULL, triggering the crash later. [FIX] This is a big de-synchronization between BTRFS_DEV_STATE_MISSING and device->bdev pointer, and shows a gap in btrfs's re-appearing-device handling. The proper handling of re-appearing device will need quite some extra work, which is out of the context of this small ---truncated---

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-06
Last Modified
2026-08-06
Generated
2026-08-06
AI Q&A
2026-08-06
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-64593
EUVD
EUVD-2026-53780

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 7.0.10-2-default

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Exploitability

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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves a NULL pointer dereference in the Btrfs filesystem. The issue occurs when the system attempts to trim a device that is not writeable, leading to a crash. The bug arises from a race condition where a missing device is re-scanned, clearing its missing flag but leaving its bdev pointer NULL and writeable flag unset.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's Btrfs filesystem and manifests as a NULL pointer dereference during filesystem trimming operations. Detection requires checking kernel logs for NULL pointer dereference errors related to btrfs_trim_fs or btrfs_trim_free_extents_throttle. Look for messages indicating device->bdev being NULL or BTRFS_DEV_STATE_WRITEABLE not set.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause system crashes or kernel panics when the Btrfs filesystem attempts to trim a non-writeable device. Users may experience unexpected system freezes or reboots, leading to potential data loss or service disruption.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the latest kernel update that includes the fix for this issue. Avoid running fstrim or filesystem trimming operations on Btrfs filesystems with missing or re-appearing devices. Monitor kernel logs for Btrfs-related errors and ensure all devices in a Btrfs filesystem are properly connected and writeable.

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