# CVE-2022-48903: btrfs: fix relocation crash due to premature return from btrfs_commit_transaction()

> A flaw in the Linux kernel's btrfs filesystem can cause a crash during block group relocation, leading to a 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:** 22 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48903, GHSA-h5r9-xw9c-j3f7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48903

## What is CVE-2022-48903?

CVE-2022-48903 is a medium-severity denial of service 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: fix relocation crash due to premature return from btrfs_commit_transaction()

We are seeing crashes similar to the following trace:

[38.969182] WARNING: CPU: 20 PID: 2105 at fs/btrfs/relocation.c:4070 btrfs_relocate_block_group+0x2dc/0x340 [btrfs]
[38.973556] CPU: 20 PID: 2105 Comm: btrfs Not tainted 5.17.0-rc4 #54
[38.974580] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.12.0-59-gc9ba5276e321-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[38.976539] RIP: 0010:btrfs_relocate_block_group+0x2dc/0x340 [btrfs]
[38.980336] RSP: 0000:ffffb0dd42e03c20 EFLAGS: 00010206
[38.981218] RAX: ffff96cfc4ede800 RBX: ffff96cfc3ce0000 RCX: 000000000002ca14
[38.982560] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 4cfd109a0bcb5d7f RDI: ffff96cfc3ce0360
[38.983619] RBP: ffff96cfc309c000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[38.984678] R10: ffff96cec0000001 R11: ffffe84c80000000 R12: ffff96cfc4ede800
[38.985735] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff96cfc3ce0360
[38.987146] FS:  00007f11c15218c0(0000) GS:ffff96d6dfb00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[38.988662] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[38.989398] CR2: 00007ffc922c8e60 CR3: 00000001147a6001 CR4: 0000000000370ee0
[38.990279] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[38.991219] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[38.992528] Call Trace:
[38.992854]  <TASK>
[38.993148]  btrfs_relocate_chunk+0x27/0xe0 [btrfs]
[38.993941]  btrfs_balance+0x78e/0xea0 [btrfs]
[38.994801]  ? vsnprintf+0x33c/0x520
[38.995368]  ? __kmalloc_track_caller+0x351/0x440
[38.996198]  btrfs_ioctl_balance+0x2b9/0x3a0 [btrfs]
[38.997084]  btrfs_ioctl+0x11b0/0x2da0 [btrfs]
[38.997867]  ? mod_objcg_state+0xee/0x340
[38.998552]  ? seq_release+0x24/0x30
[38.999184]  ? proc_nr_files+0x30/0x30
[38.999654]  ? call_rcu+0xc8/0x2f0
[39.000228]  ? __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0
[39.000872]  ? btrfs_ioctl_get_supported_features+0x30/0x30 [btrfs]
[39.001973]  __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0
[39.002566]  do_syscall_64+0x3a/0x80
[39.003011]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
[39.003735] RIP: 0033:0x7f11c166959b
[39.007324] RSP: 002b:00007fff2543e998 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010
[39.008521] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f11c1521698 RCX: 00007f11c166959b
[39.009833] RDX: 00007fff2543ea40 RSI: 00000000c4009420 RDI: 0000000000000003
[39.011270] RBP: 0000000000000003 R08: 0000000000000013 R09: 00007f11c16f94e0
[39.012581] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fff25440df3
[39.014046] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 00007fff2543ea40 R15: 0000000000000001
[39.015040]  </TASK>
[39.015418] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[43.131559] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[43.132234] kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c:2717!
[43.133031] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
[43.133702] CPU: 1 PID: 1839 Comm: btrfs Tainted: G        W         5.17.0-rc4 #54
[43.134863] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.12.0-59-gc9ba5276e321-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[43.136426] RIP: 0010:unpin_extent_range+0x37a/0x4f0 [btrfs]
[43.139913] RSP: 0000:ffffb0dd4216bc70 EFLAGS: 00010246
[43.140629] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff96cfc34490f8 RCX: 0000000000000001
[43.141604] RDX: 0000000080000001 RSI: 0000000051d00000 RDI: 00000000ffffffff
[43.142645] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff96cfd07dca50
[43.143669] R10: ffff96cfc46e8a00 R11: fffffffffffec000 R12: 0000000041d00000
[43.144657] R13: ffff96cfc3ce0000 R14: ffffb0dd4216bd08 R15: 0000000000000000
[43.145686] FS:  00007f7657dd68c0(0000) GS:ffff96d6df640000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[43.146808] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[43.147584] CR2: 00007f7fe81bf5b0 CR3: 00000001093ee004 CR4: 0000000000370ee0
[43.148589] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[43.149581] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 00000000000
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48903?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48903?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48903 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48903 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-2022-48903 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48903 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2022-48903 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-2022-48903/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48903/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48903
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48903
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48903

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48903/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.