{"cve":"CVE-2024-49868","nvd":{"published":"2024-10-21T18:15:06.623","modified":"2026-06-17T08:00:37.190","status":"Modified","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbtrfs: fix a NULL pointer dereference when failed to start a new trasacntion\n\n[BUG]\nSyzbot reported a NULL pointer dereference with the following crash:\n\n  FAULT_INJECTION: forcing a failure.\n   start_transaction+0x830/0x1670 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:676\n   prepare_to_relocate+0x31f/0x4c0 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:3642\n   relocate_block_group+0x169/0xd20 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:3678\n  ...\n  BTRFS info (device loop0): balance: ended with status: -12\n  Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000cc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI\n  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000660-0x0000000000000667]\n  RIP: 0010:btrfs_update_reloc_root+0x362/0xa80 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:926\n  Call Trace:\n   <TASK>\n   commit_fs_roots+0x2ee/0x720 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:1496\n   btrfs_commit_transaction+0xfaf/0x3740 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:2430\n   del_balance_item fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3678 [inline]\n   reset_balance_state+0x25e/0x3c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3742\n   btrfs_balance+0xead/0x10c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4574\n   btrfs_ioctl_balance+0x493/0x7c0 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3673\n   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]\n   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline]\n   __se_sys_ioctl+0xf9/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893\n   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]\n   do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83\n   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f\n\n[CAUSE]\nThe allocation failure happens at the start_transaction() inside\nprepare_to_relocate(), and during the error handling we call\nunset_reloc_control(), which makes fs_info->balance_ctl to be NULL.\n\nThen we continue the error path cleanup in btrfs_balance() by calling\nreset_balance_state() which will call del_balance_item() to fully delete\nthe balance item in the root tree.\n\nHowever during the small window between set_reloc_contrl() and\nunset_reloc_control(), we can have a subvolume tree update and created a\nreloc_root for that subvolume.\n\nThen we go into the final btrfs_commit_transaction() of\ndel_balance_item(), and into btrfs_update_reloc_root() inside\ncommit_fs_roots().\n\nThat function checks if fs_info->reloc_ctl is in the merge_reloc_tree\nstage, but since fs_info->reloc_ctl is NULL, it results a NULL pointer\ndereference.\n\n[FIX]\nJust add extra check on fs_info->reloc_ctl inside\nbtrfs_update_reloc_root(), before checking\nfs_info->reloc_ctl->merge_reloc_tree.\n\nThat DEAD_RELOC_TREE handling is to prevent further modification to the\nreloc tree during merge stage, but since there is no reloc_ctl at all,\nwe do not need to bother that.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","score":5.5},"cwes":["CWE-476"],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1282f001cbf56e5dd6e90a18e205a566793f4be0","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37fee9c220b92c3b7bf22b51c51dde5364e7590b","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/39356ec0e319ed07627b3a0f402d0608546509e6","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ad0c5868f2f0418619089513d95230c66cb7eb4","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3b47f49e83197e8dffd023ec568403bcdbb774b"],"products":["linux:linux_kernel"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T21:56:33.105311382+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2024-49868","score":0.00288,"percentile":0.21385,"date":"2026-11-01"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}