# CVE-2024-49868: btrfs: fix a NULL pointer dereference when failed to start a new trasacntion

> A local attacker can trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's Btrfs filesystem during balance operations, causing a system crash.

- **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:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-51405, BELL-CVE-2024-49868, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49868, GHSA-6pw8-39hw-qcp8, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49868

## What is CVE-2024-49868?

CVE-2024-49868 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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 a NULL pointer dereference when failed to start a new trasacntion

[BUG]
Syzbot reported a NULL pointer dereference with the following crash:

  FAULT_INJECTION: forcing a failure.
   start_transaction+0x830/0x1670 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:676
   prepare_to_relocate+0x31f/0x4c0 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:3642
   relocate_block_group+0x169/0xd20 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:3678
  ...
  BTRFS info (device loop0): balance: ended with status: -12
  Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000cc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI
  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000660-0x0000000000000667]
  RIP: 0010:btrfs_update_reloc_root+0x362/0xa80 fs/btrfs/relocation.c:926
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   commit_fs_roots+0x2ee/0x720 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:1496
   btrfs_commit_transaction+0xfaf/0x3740 fs/btrfs/transaction.c:2430
   del_balance_item fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3678 [inline]
   reset_balance_state+0x25e/0x3c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3742
   btrfs_balance+0xead/0x10c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4574
   btrfs_ioctl_balance+0x493/0x7c0 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3673
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl+0xf9/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

[CAUSE]
The allocation failure happens at the start_transaction() inside
prepare_to_relocate(), and during the error handling we call
unset_reloc_control(), which makes fs_info->balance_ctl to be NULL.

Then we continue the error path cleanup in btrfs_balance() by calling
reset_balance_state() which will call del_balance_item() to fully delete
the balance item in the root tree.

However during the small window between set_reloc_contrl() and
unset_reloc_control(), we can have a subvolume tree update and created a
reloc_root for that subvolume.

Then we go into the final btrfs_commit_transaction() of
del_balance_item(), and into btrfs_update_reloc_root() inside
commit_fs_roots().

That function checks if fs_info->reloc_ctl is in the merge_reloc_tree
stage, but since fs_info->reloc_ctl is NULL, it results a NULL pointer
dereference.

[FIX]
Just add extra check on fs_info->reloc_ctl inside
btrfs_update_reloc_root(), before checking
fs_info->reloc_ctl->merge_reloc_tree.

That DEAD_RELOC_TREE handling is to prevent further modification to the
reloc tree during merge stage, but since there is no reloc_ctl at all,
we do not need to bother that.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49868?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49868?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49868 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49868 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-2024-49868 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49868 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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-2024-49868 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-2024-49868/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49868/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49868
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49868
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49868

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49868/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.