# CVE-2026-43299: btrfs: do not ASSERT() when the fs flips RO inside btrfs_repair_io_failure()

> A kernel assertion failure in the btrfs filesystem can cause a system crash when a read repair is pending after the filesystem flips to read-only.

- **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:** 8 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-86178, BELL-CVE-2026-43299, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43299, GHSA-v7w4-33p2-qjcr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43299, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-43299, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-43299, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43299, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43299, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43299

## What is CVE-2026-43299?

CVE-2026-43299 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 2026. 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() when the fs flips RO inside btrfs_repair_io_failure()

[BUG]
There is a bug report that when btrfs hits ENOSPC error in a critical
path, btrfs flips RO (this part is expected, although the ENOSPC bug
still needs to be addressed).

The problem is after the RO flip, if there is a read repair pending, we
can hit the ASSERT() inside btrfs_repair_io_failure() like the following:

  BTRFS info (device vdc): relocating block group 30408704 flags metadata|raid1
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  BTRFS: Transaction aborted (error -28)
  WARNING: fs/btrfs/extent-tree.c:3235 at __btrfs_free_extent.isra.0+0x453/0xfd0, CPU#1: btrfs/383844
  Modules linked in: kvm_intel kvm irqbypass
  [...]
  ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
  BTRFS info (device vdc state EA): 2 enospc errors during balance
  BTRFS info (device vdc state EA): balance: ended with status: -30
  BTRFS error (device vdc state EA): parent transid verify failed on logical 30556160 mirror 2 wanted 8 found 6
  BTRFS error (device vdc state EA): bdev /dev/nvme0n1 errs: wr 0, rd 0, flush 0, corrupt 10, gen 0
  [...]
  assertion failed: !(fs_info->sb->s_flags & SB_RDONLY) :: 0, in fs/btrfs/bio.c:938
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  assertion failed: !(fs_info->sb->s_flags & SB_RDONLY) :: 0, in fs/btrfs/bio.c:938
  kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/bio.c:938!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 868 Comm: kworker/u8:13 Tainted: G        W        N  6.19.0-rc6+ #4788 PREEMPT(full)
  Tainted: [W]=WARN, [N]=TEST
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.17.0-0-gb52ca86e094d-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
  Workqueue: btrfs-endio simple_end_io_work
  RIP: 0010:btrfs_repair_io_failure.cold+0xb2/0x120
  RSP: 0000:ffffc90001d2bcf0 EFLAGS: 00010246
  RAX: 0000000000000051 RBX: 0000000000001000 RCX: 0000000000000000
  RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff8305cf42 RDI: 00000000ffffffff
  RBP: 0000000000000002 R08: 00000000fffeffff R09: ffffffff837fa988
  R10: ffffffff8327a9e0 R11: 6f69747265737361 R12: ffff88813018d310
  R13: ffff888168b8a000 R14: ffffc90001d2bd90 R15: ffff88810a169000
  FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8885e752c000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  ------------[ cut here ]------------

[CAUSE]
The cause of -ENOSPC error during the test case btrfs/124 is still
unknown, although it's known that we still have cases where metadata can
be over-committed but can not be fulfilled correctly, thus if we hit
such ENOSPC error inside a critical path, we have no choice but abort
the current transaction.

This will mark the fs read-only.

The problem is inside the btrfs_repair_io_failure() path that we require
the fs not to be mount read-only. This is normally fine, but if we are
doing a read-repair meanwhile the fs flips RO due to a critical error,
we can enter btrfs_repair_io_failure() with super block set to
read-only, thus triggering the above crash.

[FIX]
Just replace the ASSERT() with a proper return if the fs is already
read-only.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43299?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43299?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43299 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43299 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-2026-43299 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43299 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 2026. 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-2026-43299 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-2026-43299/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43299/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43299
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43299
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43299

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43299/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.