# CVE-2024-26727: btrfs: do not ASSERT() if the newly created subvolume already got read

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash in the Btrfs filesystem by creating a subvolume while it is being read, causing 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:** 3 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26727, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26727, GHSA-w9mj-34hr-82rj, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26727

## What is CVE-2024-26727?

CVE-2024-26727 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Apr 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 ASSERT() if the newly created subvolume already got read

[BUG]
There is a syzbot crash, triggered by the ASSERT() during subvolume
creation:

 assertion failed: !anon_dev, in fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1319
 ------------[ cut here ]------------
 kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1319!
 invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
 RIP: 0010:btrfs_get_root_ref.part.0+0x9aa/0xa60
  <TASK>
  btrfs_get_new_fs_root+0xd3/0xf0
  create_subvol+0xd02/0x1650
  btrfs_mksubvol+0xe95/0x12b0
  __btrfs_ioctl_snap_create+0x2f9/0x4f0
  btrfs_ioctl_snap_create+0x16b/0x200
  btrfs_ioctl+0x35f0/0x5cf0
  __x64_sys_ioctl+0x19d/0x210
  do_syscall_64+0x3f/0xe0
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0x6b
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

[CAUSE]
During create_subvol(), after inserting root item for the newly created
subvolume, we would trigger btrfs_get_new_fs_root() to get the
btrfs_root of that subvolume.

The idea here is, we have preallocated an anonymous device number for
the subvolume, thus we can assign it to the new subvolume.

But there is really nothing preventing things like backref walk to read
the new subvolume.
If that happens before we call btrfs_get_new_fs_root(), the subvolume
would be read out, with a new anonymous device number assigned already.

In that case, we would trigger ASSERT(), as we really expect no one to
read out that subvolume (which is not yet accessible from the fs).
But things like backref walk is still possible to trigger the read on
the subvolume.

Thus our assumption on the ASSERT() is not correct in the first place.

[FIX]
Fix it by removing the ASSERT(), and just free the @anon_dev, reset it
to 0, and continue.

If the subvolume tree is read out by something else, it should have
already get a new anon_dev assigned thus we only need to free the
preallocated one.

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26727?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26727?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26727 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26727 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26727 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26727 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Apr 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-2024-26727 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2024-26727/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26727/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26727
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26727
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26727

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26727/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.