# CVE-2025-40235: btrfs: directly free partially initialized fs_info in btrfs_check_leaked_roots()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash by mounting a btrfs filesystem with specific allocation failures, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** 4 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-40235, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40235, GHSA-x64m-4w9m-w2j3, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40235, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40235

## What is CVE-2025-40235?

CVE-2025-40235 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 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: directly free partially initialized fs_info in btrfs_check_leaked_roots()

If fs_info->super_copy or fs_info->super_for_commit allocated failed in
btrfs_get_tree_subvol(), then no need to call btrfs_free_fs_info().
Otherwise btrfs_check_leaked_roots() would access NULL pointer because
fs_info->allocated_roots had not been initialised.

syzkaller reported the following information:
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffffffffffbb0
  #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
  PGD 64c9067 P4D 64c9067 PUD 64cb067 PMD 0
  Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN PTI
  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1402 Comm: syz.1.35 Not tainted 6.15.8 #4 PREEMPT(lazy)
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), (...)
  RIP: 0010:arch_atomic_read arch/x86/include/asm/atomic.h:23 [inline]
  RIP: 0010:raw_atomic_read include/linux/atomic/atomic-arch-fallback.h:457 [inline]
  RIP: 0010:atomic_read include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:33 [inline]
  RIP: 0010:refcount_read include/linux/refcount.h:170 [inline]
  RIP: 0010:btrfs_check_leaked_roots+0x18f/0x2c0 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1230
  [...]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   btrfs_free_fs_info+0x310/0x410 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1280
   btrfs_get_tree_subvol+0x592/0x6b0 fs/btrfs/super.c:2029
   btrfs_get_tree+0x63/0x80 fs/btrfs/super.c:2097
   vfs_get_tree+0x98/0x320 fs/super.c:1759
   do_new_mount+0x357/0x660 fs/namespace.c:3899
   path_mount+0x716/0x19c0 fs/namespace.c:4226
   do_mount fs/namespace.c:4239 [inline]
   __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4450 [inline]
   __se_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4427 [inline]
   __x64_sys_mount+0x28c/0x310 fs/namespace.c:4427
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x92/0x180 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
  RIP: 0033:0x7f032eaffa8d
  [...]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40235?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-40235?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-40235 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40235 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-40235 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-40235 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 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-2025-40235 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-2025-40235/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40235/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40235
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40235
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40235

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40235/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.