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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-50118

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.11.6 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: reject ro->rw reconfiguration if there are hard ro requirements [BUG] Syzbot reports the following crash: BTRFS info (device loop0 state MCS): disabling free space tree BTRFS info (device loop0 state MCS): clearing compat-ro feature flag for FREE_SPACE_TREE (0x1) BTRFS info (device loop0 state MCS): clearing compat-ro feature flag for FREE_SPACE_TREE_VALID (0x2) Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000003: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000018-0x000000000000001f] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:backup_super_roots fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1691 [inline] RIP: 0010:write_all_supers+0x97a/0x40f0 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:4041 Call Trace: <TASK> btrfs_commit_transaction+0x1eae/0x3740 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:2530 btrfs_delete_free_space_tree+0x383/0x730 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1312 btrfs_start_pre_rw_mount+0xf28/0x1300 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:3012 btrfs_remount_rw fs/btrfs/super.c:1309 [inline] btrfs_reconfigure+0xae6/0x2d40 fs/btrfs/super.c:1534 btrfs_reconfigure_for_mount fs/btrfs/super.c:2020 [inline] btrfs_get_tree_subvol fs/btrfs/super.c:2079 [inline] btrfs_get_tree+0x918/0x1920 fs/btrfs/super.c:2115 vfs_get_tree+0x90/0x2b0 fs/super.c:1800 do_new_mount+0x2be/0xb40 fs/namespace.c:3472 do_mount fs/namespace.c:3812 [inline] __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4020 [inline] __se_sys_mount+0x2d6/0x3c0 fs/namespace.c:3997 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [CAUSE] To support mounting different subvolume with different RO/RW flags for the new mount APIs, btrfs introduced two workaround to support this feature: - Skip mount option/feature checks if we are mounting a different subvolume - Reconfigure the fs to RW if the initial mount is RO Combining these two, we can have the following sequence: - Mount the fs ro,rescue=all,clear_cache,space_cache=v1 rescue=all will mark the fs as hard read-only, so no v2 cache clearing will happen. - Mount a subvolume rw of the same fs. We go into btrfs_get_tree_subvol(), but fc_mount() returns EBUSY because our new fc is RW, different from the original fs. Now we enter btrfs_reconfigure_for_mount(), which switches the RO flag first so that we can grab the existing fs_info. Then we reconfigure the fs to RW. - During reconfiguration, option/features check is skipped This means we will restart the v2 cache clearing, and convert back to v1 cache. This will trigger fs writes, and since the original fs has "rescue=all" option, it skips the csum tree read. And eventually causing NULL pointer dereference in super block writeback. [FIX] For reconfiguration caused by different subvolume RO/RW flags, ensure we always run btrfs_check_options() to ensure we have proper hard RO requirements met. In fact the function btrfs_check_options() doesn't really do many complex checks, but hard RO requirement and some feature dependency checks, thus there is no special reason not to do the check for mount reconfiguration.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.8, < 6.11.6= 6.12

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.11.6 or later
Fixed in 6.11.6
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.11.6+ or 6.12.1+

  1. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.11.6 or later within the 6.11.x stable branch
  2. Alternatively, upgrade to Linux kernel 6.12.1 or later
  3. After kernel upgrade, verify the running kernel version with `uname -r`
  4. Ensure any BTRFS filesystems are remounted after the kernel update to apply the fix
Caveat Kernel upgrades may introduce regressions; test in non-production environment first. Some filesystem features may behave differently across kernel versions.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-50118 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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