# CVE-2023-54023: btrfs: fix race between balance and cancel/pause

> A race condition in the Linux kernel btrfs filesystem allows local attackers to trigger a kernel panic via concurrent balance and cancel operations.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54023, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54023, GHSA-9vvc-r9f2-4433, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-54023, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-54023, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54023

## What is CVE-2023-54023?

CVE-2023-54023 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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 race between balance and cancel/pause

Syzbot reported a panic that looks like this:

  assertion failed: fs_info->exclusive_operation == BTRFS_EXCLOP_BALANCE_PAUSED, in fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:465
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/messages.c:259!
  RIP: 0010:btrfs_assertfail+0x2c/0x30 fs/btrfs/messages.c:259
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   btrfs_exclop_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:465 [inline]
   btrfs_ioctl_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3564 [inline]
   btrfs_ioctl+0x531e/0x5b30 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:4632
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x197/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:856
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

The reproducer is running a balance and a cancel or pause in parallel.
The way balance finishes is a bit wonky, if we were paused we need to
save the balance_ctl in the fs_info, but clear it otherwise and cleanup.
However we rely on the return values being specific errors, or having a
cancel request or no pause request.  If balance completes and returns 0,
but we have a pause or cancel request we won't do the appropriate
cleanup, and then the next time we try to start a balance we'll trip
this ASSERT.

The error handling is just wrong here, we always want to clean up,
unless we got -ECANCELLED and we set the appropriate pause flag in the
exclusive op.  With this patch the reproducer ran for an hour without
tripping, previously it would trip in less than a few minutes.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54023?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54023?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54023 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54023 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54023 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54023 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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-2023-54023 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-54023/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54023/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54023
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54023
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54023

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54023/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.