# CVE-2022-48901: btrfs: do not start relocation until in progress drops are done

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's Btrfs filesystem can cause a system crash when snapshot deletion and relocation occur simultaneously.

- **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:** 22 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48901, GHSA-hq36-r5x9-pmq2, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-48901, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48901

## What is CVE-2022-48901?

CVE-2022-48901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 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: do not start relocation until in progress drops are done

We hit a bug with a recovering relocation on mount for one of our file
systems in production.  I reproduced this locally by injecting errors
into snapshot delete with balance running at the same time.  This
presented as an error while looking up an extent item

  WARNING: CPU: 5 PID: 1501 at fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c:866 lookup_inline_extent_backref+0x647/0x680
  CPU: 5 PID: 1501 Comm: btrfs-balance Not tainted 5.16.0-rc8+ #8
  RIP: 0010:lookup_inline_extent_backref+0x647/0x680
  RSP: 0018:ffffae0a023ab960 EFLAGS: 00010202
  RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000
  RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000000c RDI: 0000000000000000
  RBP: ffff943fd2a39b60 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001
  R10: 0001434088152de0 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000001d05000
  R13: ffff943fd2a39b60 R14: ffff943fdb96f2a0 R15: ffff9442fc923000
  FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff944e9eb40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 00007f1157b1fca8 CR3: 000000010f092000 CR4: 0000000000350ee0
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   insert_inline_extent_backref+0x46/0xd0
   __btrfs_inc_extent_ref.isra.0+0x5f/0x200
   ? btrfs_merge_delayed_refs+0x164/0x190
   __btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0x561/0xfa0
   ? btrfs_search_slot+0x7b4/0xb30
   ? btrfs_update_root+0x1a9/0x2c0
   btrfs_run_delayed_refs+0x73/0x1f0
   ? btrfs_update_root+0x1a9/0x2c0
   btrfs_commit_transaction+0x50/0xa50
   ? btrfs_update_reloc_root+0x122/0x220
   prepare_to_merge+0x29f/0x320
   relocate_block_group+0x2b8/0x550
   btrfs_relocate_block_group+0x1a6/0x350
   btrfs_relocate_chunk+0x27/0xe0
   btrfs_balance+0x777/0xe60
   balance_kthread+0x35/0x50
   ? btrfs_balance+0xe60/0xe60
   kthread+0x16b/0x190
   ? set_kthread_struct+0x40/0x40
   ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30
   </TASK>

Normally snapshot deletion and relocation are excluded from running at
the same time by the fs_info->cleaner_mutex.  However if we had a
pending balance waiting to get the ->cleaner_mutex, and a snapshot
deletion was running, and then the box crashed, we would come up in a
state where we have a half deleted snapshot.

Again, in the normal case the snapshot deletion needs to complete before
relocation can start, but in this case relocation could very well start
before the snapshot deletion completes, as we simply add the root to the
dead roots list and wait for the next time the cleaner runs to clean up
the snapshot.

Fix this by setting a bit on the fs_info if we have any DEAD_ROOT's that
had a pending drop_progress key.  If they do then we know we were in the
middle of the drop operation and set a flag on the fs_info.  Then
balance can wait until this flag is cleared to start up again.

If there are DEAD_ROOT's that don't have a drop_progress set then we're
safe to start balance right away as we'll be properly protected by the
cleaner_mutex.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48901?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48901?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48901 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48901 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-2022-48901 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 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-2022-48901 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-2022-48901/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48901/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48901
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48901
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48901

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48901/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.