# CVE-2022-48734: btrfs: fix deadlock between quota disable and qgroup rescan worker
> A race condition in the Linux kernel btrfs filesystem can cause a deadlock during quota disable operations, leading to system denial of service.
- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 20 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48734, GHSA-wrfr-rmr8-j7gx, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48734
## What is CVE-2022-48734?
CVE-2022-48734 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 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: fix deadlock between quota disable and qgroup rescan worker
Quota disable ioctl starts a transaction before waiting for the qgroup
rescan worker completes. However, this wait can be infinite and results
in deadlock because of circular dependency among the quota disable
ioctl, the qgroup rescan worker and the other task with transaction such
as block group relocation task.
The deadlock happens with the steps following:
1) Task A calls ioctl to disable quota. It starts a transaction and
waits for qgroup rescan worker completes.
2) Task B such as block group relocation task starts a transaction and
joins to the transaction that task A started. Then task B commits to
the transaction. In this commit, task B waits for a commit by task A.
3) Task C as the qgroup rescan worker starts its job and starts a
transaction. In this transaction start, task C waits for completion
of the transaction that task A started and task B committed.
This deadlock was found with fstests test case btrfs/115 and a zoned
null_blk device. The test case enables and disables quota, and the
block group reclaim was triggered during the quota disable by chance.
The deadlock was also observed by running quota enable and disable in
parallel with 'btrfs balance' command on regular null_blk devices.
An example report of the deadlock:
[372.469894] INFO: task kworker/u16:6:103 blocked for more than 122 seconds.
[372.479944] Not tainted 5.16.0-rc8 #7
[372.485067] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
[372.493898] task:kworker/u16:6 state:D stack: 0 pid: 103 ppid: 2 flags:0x00004000
[372.503285] Workqueue: btrfs-qgroup-rescan btrfs_work_helper [btrfs]
[372.510782] Call Trace:
[372.514092]
[372.521684] __schedule+0xb56/0x4850
[372.530104] ? io_schedule_timeout+0x190/0x190
[372.538842] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x7e/0x100
[372.547092] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x3e/0x60
[372.555591] schedule+0xe0/0x270
[372.561894] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x18bb/0x2610 [btrfs]
[372.570506] ? btrfs_apply_pending_changes+0x50/0x50 [btrfs]
[372.578875] ? free_unref_page+0x3f2/0x650
[372.585484] ? finish_wait+0x270/0x270
[372.591594] ? release_extent_buffer+0x224/0x420 [btrfs]
[372.599264] btrfs_qgroup_rescan_worker+0xc13/0x10c0 [btrfs]
[372.607157] ? lock_release+0x3a9/0x6d0
[372.613054] ? btrfs_qgroup_account_extent+0xda0/0xda0 [btrfs]
[372.620960] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x11e/0x250
[372.627137] ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90
[372.633215] ? lock_is_held_type+0xe4/0x140
[372.639404] btrfs_work_helper+0x1ae/0xa90 [btrfs]
[372.646268] process_one_work+0x7e9/0x1320
[372.652321] ? lock_release+0x6d0/0x6d0
[372.658081] ? pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0x230/0x230
[372.664513] ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90
[372.670529] worker_thread+0x59e/0xf90
[372.676172] ? process_one_work+0x1320/0x1320
[372.682440] kthread+0x3b9/0x490
[372.687550] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x24/0x50
[372.693811] ? set_kthread_struct+0x100/0x100
[372.700052] ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30
[372.705517]
[372.709747] INFO: task btrfs-transacti:2347 blocked for more than 123 seconds.
[372.729827] Not tainted 5.16.0-rc8 #7
[372.745907] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
[372.767106] task:btrfs-transacti state:D stack: 0 pid: 2347 ppid: 2 flags:0x00004000
[372.787776] Call Trace:
[372.801652]
[372.812961] __schedule+0xb56/0x4850
[372.830011] ? io_schedule_timeout+0x190/0x190
[372.852547] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x7e/0x100
[372.871761] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x3e/0x60
[372.886792] schedule+0xe0/0x270
[372.901685] wait_current_trans+0x22c/0x310 [btrfs]
[372.919743] ? btrfs_put_transaction+0x3d0/0x3d0 [btrfs]
[372.938923] ? finish_wait+0x270/0x270
[372.959085] ? join_transaction+0xc7
---truncated---
Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)
## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48734?
It affects 1 product.
Products: Linux kernel.
## How do I fix CVE-2022-48734?
Apply the vendor's patch.
## Is CVE-2022-48734 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48734 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-2022-48734 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2022-48734 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 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-2022-48734 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-2022-48734/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48734/index.md)
```
## Sources
- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48734
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48734
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48734
---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48734/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.