# CVE-2025-37904: btrfs: fix the inode leak in btrfs_iget()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's btrfs filesystem can cause a kernel panic during unmount, leading to 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:** 20 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-37904, GHSA-935c-5v3p-3rp4, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37904

## What is CVE-2025-37904?

CVE-2025-37904 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 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 the inode leak in btrfs_iget()

[BUG]
There is a bug report that a syzbot reproducer can lead to the following
busy inode at unmount time:

  BTRFS info (device loop1): last unmount of filesystem 1680000e-3c1e-4c46-84b6-56bd3909af50
  VFS: Busy inodes after unmount of loop1 (btrfs)
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  kernel BUG at fs/super.c:650!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 48168 Comm: syz-executor Not tainted 6.15.0-rc2-00471-g119009db2674 #2 PREEMPT(full)
  Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
  RIP: 0010:generic_shutdown_super+0x2e9/0x390 fs/super.c:650
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   kill_anon_super+0x3a/0x60 fs/super.c:1237
   btrfs_kill_super+0x3b/0x50 fs/btrfs/super.c:2099
   deactivate_locked_super+0xbe/0x1a0 fs/super.c:473
   deactivate_super fs/super.c:506 [inline]
   deactivate_super+0xe2/0x100 fs/super.c:502
   cleanup_mnt+0x21f/0x440 fs/namespace.c:1435
   task_work_run+0x14d/0x240 kernel/task_work.c:227
   resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline]
   exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:114 [inline]
   exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/entry-common.h:329 [inline]
   __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:207 [inline]
   syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x269/0x290 kernel/entry/common.c:218
   do_syscall_64+0xd4/0x250 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
   </TASK>

[CAUSE]
When btrfs_alloc_path() failed, btrfs_iget() directly returned without
releasing the inode already allocated by btrfs_iget_locked().

This results the above busy inode and trigger the kernel BUG.

[FIX]
Fix it by calling iget_failed() if btrfs_alloc_path() failed.

If we hit error inside btrfs_read_locked_inode(), it will properly call
iget_failed(), so nothing to worry about.

Although the iget_failed() cleanup inside btrfs_read_locked_inode() is a
break of the normal error handling scheme, let's fix the obvious bug
and backport first, then rework the error handling later.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37904?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-37904?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-37904 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37904 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-2025-37904 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-37904 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 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-2025-37904 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-2025-37904/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37904/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-37904
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-37904
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-37904

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37904/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.