# CVE-2022-49913: btrfs: fix inode list leak during backref walking at find_parent_nodes()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's btrfs filesystem can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service during backref walking errors.

- **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:** 1 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49913, GHSA-6j92-j58g-fc8v, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49913

## What is CVE-2022-49913?

CVE-2022-49913 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2025. 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 inode list leak during backref walking at find_parent_nodes()

During backref walking, at find_parent_nodes(), if we are dealing with a
data extent and we get an error while resolving the indirect backrefs, at
resolve_indirect_refs(), or in the while loop that iterates over the refs
in the direct refs rbtree, we end up leaking the inode lists attached to
the direct refs we have in the direct refs rbtree that were not yet added
to the refs ulist passed as argument to find_parent_nodes(). Since they
were not yet added to the refs ulist and prelim_release() does not free
the lists, on error the caller can only free the lists attached to the
refs that were added to the refs ulist, all the remaining refs get their
inode lists never freed, therefore leaking their memory.

Fix this by having prelim_release() always free any attached inode list
to each ref found in the rbtree, and have find_parent_nodes() set the
ref's inode list to NULL once it transfers ownership of the inode list
to a ref added to the refs ulist passed to find_parent_nodes().

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49913?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49913?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49913 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49913 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-2022-49913 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49913 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2025. 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-2022-49913 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-2022-49913/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49913/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49913
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49913
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49913

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49913/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.