# CVE-2026-64567: btrfs: reject free space cache with more entries than pages

> A local attacker with mount privileges can trigger a slab-out-of-bounds read in the btrfs filesystem by crafting a malicious free space cache, potentially causing a kernel crash or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-94482, BELL-CVE-2026-64567, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64567, GHSA-834p-x3hc-j46g, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64567

## What is CVE-2026-64567?

CVE-2026-64567 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 5 Aug 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: reject free space cache with more entries than pages

When loading a v1 free space cache, __load_free_space_cache() takes
num_entries and num_bitmaps straight from the on-disk
btrfs_free_space_header. That header is stored in the tree_root under a key
with type 0, which the tree-checker has no case for, so neither count is
validated before the load trusts it.

The load loops num_entries times and maps the next page whenever the current
one runs out, going through io_ctl_check_crc() -> io_ctl_map_page(), which
does io_ctl->pages[io_ctl->index++]. But pages[] is allocated in
io_ctl_init() from the cache inode's i_size, not from num_entries:

	num_pages = DIV_ROUND_UP(i_size_read(inode), PAGE_SIZE);
	io_ctl->pages = kcalloc(num_pages, sizeof(struct page *), GFP_NOFS);

So if num_entries claims more records than the pages can hold, io_ctl->index
runs off the end of pages[]. The write side never hits this because
io_ctl_add_entry() and io_ctl_add_bitmap() both stop once
io_ctl->index >= io_ctl->num_pages; the read side just never had the same
check.

To trigger it, take a clean cache (num_entries = <N> here), set num_entries
in the header to 0x10000, and fix up the leaf checksum so it still passes
the tree-checker. The cache inode has i_size = 65536, so num_pages is 16 and
pages[] is a 16-pointer (kmalloc-128) array. The load now tries to read
65536 entries, io_ctl->index walks up to 16, and pages[16] is read past the
array:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in io_ctl_check_crc (fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:420 fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:565)
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff88800c833a80 by task kworker/u8:3/58
   io_ctl_check_crc (fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:420 fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:565)
   __load_free_space_cache (fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:655 fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:820)
   load_free_space_cache (fs/btrfs/free-space-cache.c:1017)
   caching_thread (fs/btrfs/block-group.c:880)
   btrfs_work_helper (fs/btrfs/async-thread.c:312)
   process_one_work
   worker_thread
   kthread
   ret_from_fork

free-space-cache.c:420 is io_ctl_map_page(), inlined into io_ctl_check_crc()
at line 565, which is why that is the frame KASAN names. The out-of-bounds
slot is then treated as a struct page and handed to crc32c(), so the bad
read turns into a GP fault.

Add the missing check to io_ctl_check_crc(), which is where both the entry
loop and the bitmap loop end up. When num_entries is too large the load now
fails like any corrupt cache: __load_free_space_cache() drops it and rebuilds
the free space from the extent tree, so a valid cache is never rejected.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64567?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-64567?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64567 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64567 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-64567 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64567 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 5 Aug 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-2026-64567 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-2026-64567/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64567/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64567
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64567
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64567

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64567/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.