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CVE Record

CVE-2025-71183: btrfs: always detect conflicting inodes when logging inode refs

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: always detect conflicting inodes when logging inode refs After rename exchanging (either with the rename exchange operation or regular renames in multiple non-atomic steps) two inodes and at least one of them is a directory, we can end up with a log tree that contains only of the inodes and after a power failure that can result in an attempt to delete the other inode when it should not because it was not deleted before the power failure. In some case that delete attempt fails when the target inode is a directory that contains a subvolume inside it, since the log replay code is not prepared to deal with directory entries that point to root items (only inode items). 1) We have directories "dir1" (inode A) and "dir2" (inode B) under the same parent directory; 2) We have a file (inode C) under directory "dir1" (inode A); 3) We have a subvolume inside directory "dir2" (inode B); 4) All these inodes were persisted in a past transaction and we are currently at transaction N; 5) We rename the file (inode C), so at btrfs_log_new_name() we update inode C's last_unlink_trans to N; 6) We get a rename exchange for "dir1" (inode A) and "dir2" (inode B), so after the exchange "dir1" is inode B and "dir2" is inode A. During the rename exchange we call btrfs_log_new_name() for inodes A and B, but because they are directories, we don't update their last_unlink_trans to N; 7) An fsync against the file (inode C) is done, and because its inode has a last_unlink_trans with a value of N we log its parent directory (inode A) (through btrfs_log_all_parents(), called from btrfs_log_inode_parent()). 8) So we end up with inode B not logged, which now has the old name of inode A. At copy_inode_items_to_log(), when logging inode A, we did not check if we had any conflicting inode to log because inode A has a generation lower than the current transaction (created in a past transaction); 9) After a power failure, when replaying the log tree, since we find that inode A has a new name that conflicts with the name of inode B in the fs tree, we attempt to delete inode B... this is wrong since that directory was never deleted before the power failure, and because there is a subvolume inside that directory, attempting to delete it will fail since replay_dir_deletes() and btrfs_unlink_inode() are not prepared to deal with dir items that point to roots instead of inodes. When that happens the mount fails and we get a stack trace like the following: [87.2314] BTRFS info (device dm-0): start tree-log replay [87.2318] BTRFS critical (device dm-0): failed to delete reference to subvol, root 5 inode 256 parent 259 [87.2332] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [87.2338] BTRFS: Transaction aborted (error -2) [87.2346] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 638968 at fs/btrfs/inode.c:4345 __btrfs_unlink_inode+0x416/0x440 [btrfs] [87.2368] Modules linked in: btrfs loop dm_thin_pool (...) [87.2470] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 638968 Comm: mount Tainted: G W 6.18.0-rc7-btrfs-next-218+ #2 PREEMPT(full) [87.2489] Tainted: [W]=WARN [87.2494] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [87.2514] RIP: 0010:__btrfs_unlink_inode+0x416/0x440 [btrfs] [87.2538] Code: c0 89 04 24 (...) [87.2568] RSP: 0018:ffffc0e741f4b9b8 EFLAGS: 00010286 [87.2574] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9d3ec8a6cf60 RCX: 0000000000000000 [87.2582] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffffffff84ab45a1 RDI: 00000000ffffffff [87.2591] RBP: ffff9d3ec8a6ef20 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffc0e741f4b840 [87.2599] R10: ffff9d45dc1fffa8 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: ffff9d3ee26d77e0 [87.2608] R13: ffffc0e741f4ba98 R14: ffff9d4458040800 R15: ffff9d44b6b7ca10 [87.2618] FS: 00007f7b9603a840(0000) GS:ffff9d4658982000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [87. ---truncated---

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2025-71183 is a Linux kernel Btrfs bug that can leave filesystem recovery logic in an inconsistent state after specific rename activity and a power failure. The visible business risk is availability: a system may fail to mount the affected Btrfs filesystem during log replay.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted availability risk, not a broad remote compromise. Prioritize patching where Btrfs supports production services, storage appliances, developer workstations, or systems with important local data.

Technical view

The Btrfs tree-log path can miss a conflicting inode when inode references are logged after directory rename exchange or multi-step renames. After a crash, log replay may wrongly try to delete a directory inode containing a subvolume, triggering a transaction abort and mount failure.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to Linux systems using Btrfs. The source describes affected Linux kernel versions and stable commits, but the version data is not enough to map every distribution package precisely.

Exploitation context

No active exploitation is reported in the provided sources, and KEV is false. The described failure requires particular Btrfs directory, file, subvolume, rename, fsync, and power-loss or crash timing conditions.

Researcher notes

The source describes a resolved kernel bug in Btrfs inode reference logging. Evidence supports mount failure after crash recovery, but does not provide CVSS, CWE, remote attackability, or confirmed exploitation.

Mitigation direction

  • Identify systems using Btrfs filesystems, especially with subvolumes.
  • Check distribution kernel advisories for CVE-2025-71183 coverage.
  • Upgrade to a kernel build containing the referenced Btrfs stable fixes.
  • Prioritize critical hosts where Btrfs mount failure would disrupt service.
  • Maintain tested backups before kernel or filesystem recovery work.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm whether affected hosts mount any Btrfs filesystems.
  • Record running kernel versions and compare against vendor fixed builds.
  • Review boot and mount logs for Btrfs tree-log replay failures.
  • Check kernel package changelogs for the referenced Btrfs fix title.
  • Validate recovery procedures for critical Btrfs-backed workloads.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
7

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
0ADP providers
6Source links

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

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Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
LinuxLinux56f23fdbb600e6087db7b009775b95ce07cc3195, 56f23fdbb600e6087db7b009775b95ce07cc3195, 56f23fdbb600e6087db7b009775b95ce07cc3195, 56f23fdbb600e6087db7b009775b95ce07cc3195, 56f23fdbb600e6087db7b009775b95ce07cc3195, 048605483fbdd1e77ead32a7cd7b95cc17eaaf0e, 033ad030df0ea932a21499582fea59e1df95769b, 1653a3b0e9436c10eb307c318776cf91fe18ff08, ff440e9185e96cbb94481fc8b6192b944dcfc061, 3.18.32, 4.1.23, 4.4.8, 4.5.2unaffected
LinuxLinux4.6, 0, 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66, 6.18.6, 6.19affected
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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