linux-cve-announce - CVE-2023-54281: btrfs: release path before inode lookup during the ino lookup ioctl

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Message-ID: <2025123026-CVE-2023-54281-3f6d@gregkh>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:23:34 +0100
From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To: linux-cve-announce@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>
Subject: CVE-2023-54281: btrfs: release path before inode lookup during the ino lookup ioctl

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>

Description
===========

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

btrfs: release path before inode lookup during the ino lookup ioctl

During the ino lookup ioctl we can end up calling btrfs_iget() to get an
inode reference while we are holding on a root's btree. If btrfs_iget()
needs to lookup the inode from the root's btree, because it's not
currently loaded in memory, then it will need to lock another or the
same path in the same root btree. This may result in a deadlock and
trigger the following lockdep splat:

  WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
  6.5.0-rc7-syzkaller-00004-gf7757129e3de #0 Not tainted
  ------------------------------------------------------
  syz-executor277/5012 is trying to acquire lock:
  ffff88802df41710 (btrfs-tree-01){++++}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136

  but task is already holding lock:
  ffff88802df418e8 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136

  which lock already depends on the new lock.

  the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

  -> #1 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}:
         down_read_nested+0x49/0x2f0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1645
         __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136
         btrfs_search_slot+0x13a4/0x2f80 fs/btrfs/ctree.c:2302
         btrfs_init_root_free_objectid+0x148/0x320 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:4955
         btrfs_init_fs_root fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1128 [inline]
         btrfs_get_root_ref+0x5ae/0xae0 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1338
         btrfs_get_fs_root fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1390 [inline]
         open_ctree+0x29c8/0x3030 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:3494
         btrfs_fill_super+0x1c7/0x2f0 fs/btrfs/super.c:1154
         btrfs_mount_root+0x7e0/0x910 fs/btrfs/super.c:1519
         legacy_get_tree+0xef/0x190 fs/fs_context.c:611
         vfs_get_tree+0x8c/0x270 fs/super.c:1519
         fc_mount fs/namespace.c:1112 [inline]
         vfs_kern_mount+0xbc/0x150 fs/namespace.c:1142
         btrfs_mount+0x39f/0xb50 fs/btrfs/super.c:1579
         legacy_get_tree+0xef/0x190 fs/fs_context.c:611
         vfs_get_tree+0x8c/0x270 fs/super.c:1519
         do_new_mount+0x28f/0xae0 fs/namespace.c:3335
         do_mount fs/namespace.c:3675 [inline]
         __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3884 [inline]
         __se_sys_mount+0x2d9/0x3c0 fs/namespace.c:3861
         do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
         do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
         entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

  -> #0 (btrfs-tree-01){++++}-{3:3}:
         check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3142 [inline]
         check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3261 [inline]
         validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3876 [inline]
         __lock_acquire+0x39ff/0x7f70 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5144
         lock_acquire+0x1e3/0x520 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5761
         down_read_nested+0x49/0x2f0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1645
         __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136
         btrfs_tree_read_lock fs/btrfs/locking.c:142 [inline]
         btrfs_read_lock_root_node+0x292/0x3c0 fs/btrfs/locking.c:281
         btrfs_search_slot_get_root fs/btrfs/ctree.c:1832 [inline]
         btrfs_search_slot+0x4ff/0x2f80 fs/btrfs/ctree.c:2154
         btrfs_lookup_inode+0xdc/0x480 fs/btrfs/inode-item.c:412
         btrfs_read_locked_inode fs/btrfs/inode.c:3892 [inline]
         btrfs_iget_path+0x2d9/0x1520 fs/btrfs/inode.c:5716
         btrfs_search_path_in_tree_user fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:1961 [inline]
         btrfs_ioctl_ino_lookup_user+0x77a/0xf50 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:2105
         btrfs_ioctl+0xb0b/0xd40 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:4683
         vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
         __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
         __se_sys_ioctl+0xf8/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:856
         do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
         do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
         entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

  other info that might help us debug this:

   Possible unsafe locking scenario:

         CPU0                    CPU1
         ----                    ----
    rlock(btrfs-tree-00);
                                 lock(btrfs-tree-01);
                                 lock(btrfs-tree-00);
    rlock(btrfs-tree-01);

   *** DEADLOCK ***

  1 lock held by syz-executor277/5012:
   #0: ffff88802df418e8 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136

  stack backtrace:
  CPU: 1 PID: 5012 Comm: syz-executor277 Not tainted 6.5.0-rc7-syzkaller-00004-gf7757129e3de #0
  Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/26/2023
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
   dump_stack_lvl+0x1e7/0x2d0 lib/dump_stack.c:106
   check_noncircular+0x375/0x4a0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2195
   check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3142 [inline]
   check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3261 [inline]
   validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3876 [inline]
   __lock_acquire+0x39ff/0x7f70 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5144
   lock_acquire+0x1e3/0x520 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5761
   down_read_nested+0x49/0x2f0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1645
   __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136
   btrfs_tree_read_lock fs/btrfs/locking.c:142 [inline]
   btrfs_read_lock_root_node+0x292/0x3c0 fs/btrfs/locking.c:281
   btrfs_search_slot_get_root fs/btrfs/ctree.c:1832 [inline]
   btrfs_search_slot+0x4ff/0x2f80 fs/btrfs/ctree.c:2154
   btrfs_lookup_inode+0xdc/0x480 fs/btrfs/inode-item.c:412
   btrfs_read_locked_inode fs/btrfs/inode.c:3892 [inline]
   btrfs_iget_path+0x2d9/0x1520 fs/btrfs/inode.c:5716
   btrfs_search_path_in_tree_user fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:1961 [inline]
   btrfs_ioctl_ino_lookup_user+0x77a/0xf50 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:2105
   btrfs_ioctl+0xb0b/0xd40 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:4683
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl+0xf8/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:856
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
  RIP: 0033:0x7f0bec94ea39

Fix this simply by releasing the path before calling btrfs_iget() as at
point we don't need the path anymore.

The Linux kernel CVE team has assigned CVE-2023-54281 to this issue.


Affected and fixed versions
===========================

	Issue introduced in 4.18 with commit 23d0b79dfaed2305b500b0215b0421701ada6b1a and fixed in 5.10.197 with commit 7390bb377b5fb3be23cb021e0f184d1f576be7d6
	Issue introduced in 4.18 with commit 23d0b79dfaed2305b500b0215b0421701ada6b1a and fixed in 5.15.133 with commit 380bbd46d61c894a8dcaace09e54bc7426d81014
	Issue introduced in 4.18 with commit 23d0b79dfaed2305b500b0215b0421701ada6b1a and fixed in 6.1.55 with commit 50e385d98b2a52480836ea41c142b81eeeb277af
	Issue introduced in 4.18 with commit 23d0b79dfaed2305b500b0215b0421701ada6b1a and fixed in 6.5.5 with commit 6fdce81e425be112f1ca129776f4041afeaad413
	Issue introduced in 4.18 with commit 23d0b79dfaed2305b500b0215b0421701ada6b1a and fixed in 6.6 with commit ee34a82e890a7babb5585daf1a6dd7d4d1cf142a

Please see https://www.kernel.org for a full list of currently supported
kernel versions by the kernel community.

Unaffected versions might change over time as fixes are backported to
older supported kernel versions.  The official CVE entry at
	https://cve.org/CVERecord/?id=CVE-2023-54281
will be updated if fixes are backported, please check that for the most
up to date information about this issue.


Affected files
==============

The file(s) affected by this issue are:
	fs/btrfs/ioctl.c


Mitigation
==========

The Linux kernel CVE team recommends that you update to the latest
stable kernel version for this, and many other bugfixes.  Individual
changes are never tested alone, but rather are part of a larger kernel
release.  Cherry-picking individual commits is not recommended or
supported by the Linux kernel community at all.  If however, updating to
the latest release is impossible, the individual changes to resolve this
issue can be found at these commits:
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7390bb377b5fb3be23cb021e0f184d1f576be7d6
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/380bbd46d61c894a8dcaace09e54bc7426d81014
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/50e385d98b2a52480836ea41c142b81eeeb277af
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6fdce81e425be112f1ca129776f4041afeaad413
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ee34a82e890a7babb5585daf1a6dd7d4d1cf142a