{"cve":"CVE-2026-97416","nvd":{"published":"2026-09-24T17:17:19.340","modified":"2026-10-03T11:17:53.617","status":"Received","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbtrfs: balance: fix potential bg lookup failure in btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk()\n\n[BUG]\nRunning btrfs balance can trigger a null-ptr-deref before relocating a\ndata chunk when metadata corruption leaves a chunk in the chunk tree\nwithout a corresponding block group in the in-memory cache:\n\n  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000088-0x000000000000008f]\n  RIP: 0010:btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk+0x40/0x1c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3601\n  Call Trace:\n    __btrfs_balance fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4217 [inline]\n    btrfs_balance+0x2516/0x42b0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4604\n    btrfs_ioctl_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3577 [inline]\n    btrfs_ioctl+0x25cf/0x5b90 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:5313\n    ...\n\n[CAUSE]\n__btrfs_balance() iterates the on-disk chunk tree and passes the chunk\nlogical bytenr to btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk() before relocating a data\nchunk. That helper then queries the in-memory block group cache:\n\n  cache = btrfs_lookup_block_group(fs_info, chunk_offset);\n  chunk_type = cache->flags;   /* cache may be NULL */\n\nA corrupt image can contain a chunk item whose matching block group\nitem is missing, so no block group is ever inserted into the cache. In\nthat case btrfs_lookup_block_group() returns NULL.\n\nThe code only guards this with ASSERT(cache), which becomes a no-op when\nCONFIG_BTRFS_ASSERT is disabled. The subsequent dereference of\ncache->flags therefore crashes the kernel.\n\n[FIX]\nAdd a NULL check after btrfs_lookup_block_group() in\nbtrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk() and print and error message for clarity.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":null,"cwes":[],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18d32b0013efba19f7ad3e5b08d7aee813d604a6","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/322f891b4d4fe64acb3351a0ffa62a7fa5ba7256","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/59f75e0c8724d4adebc08c7dd3ff2358b80c21f7","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/81a664ed8b1a44c76b204c4bd0d751317a02c5cd","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9740dd0c17a4be8cc47a06c5ca5293471a7e286e"],"products":[],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T22:56:02.509636177+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2026-97416","score":0.00173,"percentile":0.0664,"date":"2026-10-25"},"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."]}