# CVE-2021-47599: btrfs: use latest_dev in btrfs_show_devname

> A race condition in the Linux kernel Btrfs filesystem can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service when reading mount information.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47599, GHSA-v8rf-qj3w-fq5c, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2021-47599, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47599

## What is CVE-2021-47599?

CVE-2021-47599 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jun 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: use latest_dev in btrfs_show_devname

The test case btrfs/238 reports the warning below:

 WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 481 at fs/btrfs/super.c:2509 btrfs_show_devname+0x104/0x1e8 [btrfs]
 CPU: 2 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G        W  O 5.14.0-rc1-custom #72
 Hardware name: QEMU QEMU Virtual Machine, BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
 Call trace:
   btrfs_show_devname+0x108/0x1b4 [btrfs]
   show_mountinfo+0x234/0x2c4
   m_show+0x28/0x34
   seq_read_iter+0x12c/0x3c4
   vfs_read+0x29c/0x2c8
   ksys_read+0x80/0xec
   __arm64_sys_read+0x28/0x34
   invoke_syscall+0x50/0xf8
   do_el0_svc+0x88/0x138
   el0_svc+0x2c/0x8c
   el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0xe4
   el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c

Reason:
While btrfs_prepare_sprout() moves the fs_devices::devices into
fs_devices::seed_list, the btrfs_show_devname() searches for the devices
and found none, leading to the warning as in above.

Fix:
latest_dev is updated according to the changes to the device list.
That means we could use the latest_dev->name to show the device name in
/proc/self/mounts, the pointer will be always valid as it's assigned
before the device is deleted from the list in remove or replace.
The RCU protection is sufficient as the device structure is freed after
synchronization.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47599?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47599?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47599 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47599 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-47599 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47599 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jun 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47599 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47599/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47599/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47599
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47599
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47599

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47599/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.