Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
Unscored CVE-2022-48920 EUVD-2022-53799GHSA-m65f-mmqm-4fq6

btrfs: get rid of warning on transaction commit when using flushoncommit

Published Aug 22, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: get rid of warning on transaction commit when using flushoncommit

When using the flushoncommit mount option, during almost every transaction
commit we trigger a warning from __writeback_inodes_sb_nr():

$ cat fs/fs-writeback.c:
(...)
static void __writeback_inodes_sb_nr(struct super_block *sb, ...
{
(...)
WARN_ON(!rwsem_is_locked(&sb->s_umount));
(...)
}
(...)

The trace produced in dmesg looks like the following:

[947.473890] WARNING: CPU: 5 PID: 930 at fs/fs-writeback.c:2610 __writeback_inodes_sb_nr+0x7e/0xb3
[947.481623] Modules linked in: nfsd nls_cp437 cifs asn1_decoder cifs_arc4 fscache cifs_md4 ipmi_ssif
[947.489571] CPU: 5 PID: 930 Comm: btrfs-transacti Not tainted 95.16.3-srb-asrock-00001-g36437ad63879 #186
[947.497969] RIP: 0010:__writeback_inodes_sb_nr+0x7e/0xb3
[947.502097] Code: 24 10 4c 89 44 24 18 c6 (...)
[947.519760] RSP: 0018:ffffc90000777e10 EFLAGS: 00010246
[947.523818] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000963300 RCX: 0000000000000000
[947.529765] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000fa51 RDI: ffffc90000777e50
[947.535740] RBP: ffff888101628a90 R08: ffff888100955800 R09: ffff888100956000
[947.541701] R10: 0000000000000002 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff888100963488
[947.547645] R13: ffff888100963000 R14: ffff888112fb7200 R15: ffff888100963460
[947.553621] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88841fd40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[947.560537] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[947.565122] CR2: 0000000008be50c4 CR3: 000000000220c000 CR4: 00000000001006e0
[947.571072] Call Trace:
[947.572354] <TASK>
[947.573266] btrfs_commit_transaction+0x1f1/0x998
[947.576785] ? start_transaction+0x3ab/0x44e
[947.579867] ? schedule_timeout+0x8a/0xdd
[947.582716] transaction_kthread+0xe9/0x156
[947.585721] ? btrfs_cleanup_transaction.isra.0+0x407/0x407
[947.590104] kthread+0x131/0x139
[947.592168] ? set_kthread_struct+0x32/0x32
[947.595174] ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30
[947.597561] </TASK>
[947.598553] ---[ end trace 644721052755541c ]---

This is because we started using writeback_inodes_sb() to flush delalloc
when committing a transaction (when using -o flushoncommit), in order to
avoid deadlocks with filesystem freeze operations. This change was made
by commit ce8ea7cc6eb313 ("btrfs: don't call btrfs_start_delalloc_roots
in flushoncommit"). After that change we started producing that warning,
and every now and then a user reports this since the warning happens too
often, it spams dmesg/syslog, and a user is unsure if this reflects any
problem that might compromise the filesystem's reliability.

We can not just lock the sb->s_umount semaphore before calling
writeback_inodes_sb(), because that would at least deadlock with
filesystem freezing, since at fs/super.c:freeze_super() sync_filesystem()
is called while we are holding that semaphore in write mode, and that can
trigger a transaction commit, resulting in a deadlock. It would also
trigger the same type of deadlock in the unmount path. Possibly, it could
also introduce some other locking dependencies that lockdep would report.

To fix this call try_to_writeback_inodes_sb() instead of
writeback_inodes_sb(), because that will try to read lock sb->s_umount
and then will only call writeback_inodes_sb() if it was able to lock it.
This is fine because the cases where it can't read lock sb->s_umount
are during a filesystem unmount or during a filesystem freeze - in those
cases sb->s_umount is write locked and sync_filesystem() is called, which
calls writeback_inodes_sb(). In other words, in all cases where we can't
take a read lock on sb->s_umount, writeback is already being triggered
elsewhere.

An alternative would be to call btrfs_start_delalloc_roots() with a
number of pages different from LONG_MAX, for example matching the number
of delalloc bytes we currently have, in
---truncated---

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.15 5.15.27

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 5.16.14-1 —
Debian 13 linux 5.16.14-1 —
Debian 12 linux 5.16.14-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +31 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +27 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1008.11~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Show 8 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux-gcp +4 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-azure No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-64kb +4 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.66.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3190-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2.150500.6.35.6 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-syms +1 5.14.21-150500.55.80.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLES 12 SP5 kernel-azure +2 4.12.14-16.197.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3252-1
SLES 12 SP5 kernel-docs +1 4.12.14-122.228.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1
SLES 12 SP5 kernel-syms +2 4.12.14-122.228.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 12 SP5 kernel-azure +2 4.12.14-16.197.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3252-1
SLES for SAP 12 SP5 kernel-syms +2 4.12.14-122.228.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1
SLE Real Time 12 SP5 kernel-rt +3 4.12.14-10.200.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3189-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2.150500.6.35.6 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150500.13.67.3 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_19 +1 1-150500.11.3.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
SLE Live Patching 12 SP5 kernel-default 4.12.14-122.228.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1
SLE Live Patching 12 SP5 kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP5_Update_60 1-8.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-rt +2 5.14.21-150500.13.67.3 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-syms-rt 5.14.21-150500.13.67.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.5 dtb-aarch64 +3 5.14.21-150500.55.80.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-64kb +6 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.66.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3190-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2.150500.6.35.6 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-rt +2 5.14.21-150500.13.67.3 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-syms-rt 5.14.21-150500.13.67.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.80.2.150500.6.35.6 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-rt 5.14.21-150500.13.67.3 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1

Advisories 7

References