Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
ReconGain local authenticated access
-
DeliveryEnable btrfs quotas if disabled
-
ExploitFill filesystem near capacity
-
InstallMass-create quota groups via ioctl
-
C2Trigger transaction commit
-
ExecuteForce delayed ref processing failure
-
ImpactAbort filesystem transaction
-
Step 8Deny service availability
Vulnerability Assessment
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires local authenticated access with privileges to execute btrfs quota management ioctls (typically root or users in disk/admin groups). Btrfs quota functionality must be enabled on the target filesystem via 'btrfs quota enable' command. Exploitation succeeds primarily when filesystem approaches capacity (typically >80% full), creating contention for metadata space and global block reserve. The vulnerability manifests most reliably with mass quota group creation operations (hundreds to thousands of qgroups), though exact threshold depends on available metadata space and existing filesystem load. Does not affect systems using ext4, xfs, or other non-btrfs filesystems. Does not affect btrfs systems with quotas disabled (default configuration on many distributions). Attack complexity is low per CVSS AC:L as the trigger mechanism is straightforward once prerequisites are met, but realistic exploitation requires administrative access and specific btrfs configuration that limits practical threat surface. |
| Impact | Real-world risk is moderate despite CVSS 5.5 (High severity). The CVSS vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N indicates local authenticated access with low complexity, meaning any local user with quota management permissions can trigger this condition. However, EPSS score of 0.02% (5th percentile) suggests minimal observed exploitation interest. No KEV listing or public POC exists, indicating this is not actively exploited. The reproducer requires creating 400,000 qgroups on a space-constrained filesystem - an artificial scenario unlikely in production environments where administrators would monitor disk usage and quota group proliferation. The primary impact is availability (A:H) through filesystem transaction abort requiring remount, not confidentiality or integrity compromise. This is fundamentally a stability/reliability bug affecting edge-case configurations rather than a classical security vulnerability enabling privilege escalation or data exfiltration. Priority should be moderate for systems using btrfs with active quota group management, low for systems without qgroups enabled. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Local authenticated administrator with btrfs quota management permissions fills a btrfs filesystem to near capacity (e.g., 90% utilized), then programmatically creates tens of thousands of quota groups through repeated 'btrfs qgroup create' ioctl calls. Each operation generates metadata updates without proper transaction space reservation. When the kernel commits transactions and processes accumulated delayed references, the unreserved space demand exceeds available metadata capacity and global block reserve limits, triggering -ENOSPC error in btrfs_run_delayed_refs. The filesystem aborts the transaction and becomes read-only or requires remount, causing denial of service for applications relying on that volume. No public POC exists, but the vulnerability description includes a working reproducer script demonstrating the issue. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – May 15, 2026
Transaction abort and denial of service in Linux kernel btrfs qgroup ioctls occurs when quota group operations fail to reserve transaction space for metadata updates and delayed references, resulting in -ENOSPC errors under filesystem pressure. Affected versions include mainline kernel through 6.19.x and stable branches 6.12.x and 6.18.x, with patches available in 6.12.81, 6.18.22, 6.19.12, and 7.0. Local authenticated users can trigger filesystem unavailability through qgroup operations. EPSS exploitation probability is low (0.02%), no active exploitation confirmed, and this represents a stability issue rather than a direct security compromise, though availability impact is high per CVSS 5.5 score.
RemediationAI
Upgrade to patched kernel versions: 6.12.81, 6.18.22, 6.19.12, or 7.0 stable release. Patches available from kernel.org stable tree at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f9a4e3015db1aeafbef407650eb8555445ca943e (mainline), https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/386f5e16a383101a68e195c806b4eedb233cd1d3 (6.19.x), https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf930a651eef6f8d915bf0ccd60c2045974f870c (6.18.x), and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb6eb33c908edbbb4d92abdc0c6c87f21b4952e8 (6.12.x). Until patching, implement workarounds: disable btrfs quota functionality with 'btrfs quota disable' if not required for space management (eliminates attack vector but removes quota enforcement capability); maintain adequate free space on btrfs filesystems (20%+ recommended) to prevent near-ENOSPC conditions where global reserve contention occurs; limit quota group creation through administrative controls to prevent excessive qgroup proliferation that stresses metadata reservation system. Monitor filesystem space with 'btrfs filesystem usage' and kernel logs for transaction abort warnings. Note that disabling quotas prevents subvolume space accounting and may impact backup strategies relying on qgroup limits.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Btrfs (B-tree filesystem) uses qgroups (quota groups) for space accounting and limitations. The vulnerability exists in the transaction space reservation mechanism for qgroup ioctls. Normally, btrfs operations reserve metadata space before modifying trees, but qgroup ioctls perform only transaction joins without reserving space for quota tree updates or delayed references (deferred metadata operations). The quota root relies on the global block reserve, which serves as emergency space for critical operations. Under filesystem pressure when approaching -ENOSPC (no space), the combination of unreserved qgroup operations generating delayed refs and competing demands for the global reserve causes transaction abort with error -28 (ENOSPC). The affected code path is in fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c at btrfs_run_delayed_refs, triggered during transaction commit when delayed references execute.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionNVD
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: reserve enough transaction items for qgroup ioctls
Currently our qgroup ioctls don't reserve any space, they just do a transaction join, which does not reserve any space, neither for the quota tree updates nor for the delayed refs generated when updating the quota tree. The quota root uses the global block reserve, which is fine most of the time since we don't expect a lot of updates to the quota root, or to be too close to -ENOSPC such that other critical metadata updates need to resort to the global reserve.
However this is not optimal, as not reserving proper space may result in a transaction abort due to not reserving space for delayed refs and then abusing the use of the global block reserve.
For example, the following reproducer (which is unlikely to model any real world use case, but just to illustrate the problem), triggers such a transaction abort due to -ENOSPC when running delayed refs:
$ cat test.sh #!/bin/bash
DEV=/dev/nullb0 MNT=/mnt/nullb0
umount $DEV &> /dev/null
Limit device to 1G so that it's much faster to reproduce the issue.
mkfs.btrfs -f -b 1G $DEV mount -o commit=600 $DEV $MNT
fallocate -l 800M $MNT/filler btrfs quota enable $MNT
for ((i = 1; i <= 400000; i++)); do btrfs qgroup create 1/$i $MNT done
umount $MNT
When running this, we can see in dmesg/syslog that a transaction abort happened:
[436.490] BTRFS error (device nullb0): failed to run delayed ref for logical 30408704 num_bytes 16384 type 176 action 1 ref_mod 1: -28 [436.493] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [436.494] BTRFS: Transaction aborted (error -28) [436.495] WARNING: fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c:2247 at btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0xd9/0x110 [btrfs], CPU#4: umount/2495372 [436.497] Modules linked in: btrfs loop (...) [436.508] CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 2495372 Comm: umount Tainted: G W 6.19.0-rc8-btrfs-next-225+ #1 PREEMPT(full) [436.510] Tainted: [W]=WARN [436.511] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [436.513] RIP: 0010:btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0xdf/0x110 [btrfs] [436.514] Code: 0f 82 ea (...) [436.518] RSP: 0018:ffffd511850b7d78 EFLAGS: 00010292 [436.519] RAX: 00000000ffffffe4 RBX: ffff8f120dad37e0 RCX: 0000000002040001 [436.520] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 00000000ffffffe4 RDI: ffffffffc090fd80 [436.522] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffffffc04d1867 [436.523] R10: ffff8f18dc1fffa8 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: ffff8f173aa89400 [436.524] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff8f173aa89400 R15: 0000000000000000 [436.526] FS: 00007fe59045d840(0000) GS:ffff8f192e22e000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [436.527] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [436.528] CR2: 00007fe5905ff2b0 CR3: 000000060710a002 CR4: 0000000000370ef0 [436.530] Call Trace: [436.530] <TASK> [436.530] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x73/0xc00 [btrfs] [436.531] ? btrfs_attach_transaction_barrier+0x1e/0x70 [btrfs] [436.532] sync_filesystem+0x7a/0x90 [436.533] generic_shutdown_super+0x28/0x180 [436.533] kill_anon_super+0x12/0x40 [436.534] btrfs_kill_super+0x12/0x20 [btrfs] [436.534] deactivate_locked_super+0x2f/0xb0 [436.534] cleanup_mnt+0xea/0x180 [436.535] task_work_run+0x58/0xa0 [436.535] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0xed/0x480 [436.536] ? __x64_sys_umount+0x68/0x80 [436.536] do_syscall_64+0x2a5/0xf20 [436.537] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [436.537] RIP: 0033:0x7fe5906b6217 [436.538] Code: 0d 00 f7 (...) [436.540] RSP: 002b:00007ffcd87a61f8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a6 [436.541] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00005618b9ecadc8 RCX: 00007fe5906b6217 [436.541] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 00005618b9ecb100 [436.542] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 00007ffcd87a4fe0 R09: 00000000ffffffff [436.544] R10: 0000000000000103 R11: ---truncated---
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Same technique Information Disclosure
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Medium| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS Extended Security | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS Extended Security | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Fixed |
| SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7 | Fixed |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-ESPOS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-BCL | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-BCL | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-BCL | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.0 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.1 | Fixed |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.2 | Fixed |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 9 | Fixed |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 | Fixed |
| SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP4 | Fixed |
| SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.3 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Fixed |
EUVD-2026-28622
GHSA-5h67-3fpf-pw2r
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB