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Critical · 9.1 CVE-2025-38365 EUVD-2025-22638GHSA-4w5g-r898-rj85

btrfs: fix a race between renames and directory logging

Published Jul 25, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 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-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.14 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-6.8 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.14 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-6.8 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.8 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-azure-nvidia Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-6.8 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-5.15 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-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-6.8 Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia-lowlatency Package: linux-nvidia-tegra 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-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.14 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 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-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-6.8 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-realtime-6.8 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-6.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

btrfs: fix a race between renames and directory logging

We have a race between a rename and directory inode logging that if it
happens and we crash/power fail before the rename completes, the next time
the filesystem is mounted, the log replay code will end up deleting the
file that was being renamed.

This is best explained following a step by step analysis of an interleaving
of steps that lead into this situation.

Consider the initial conditions:

1) We are at transaction N;

2) We have directories A and B created in a past transaction (< N);

3) We have inode X corresponding to a file that has 2 hardlinks, one in
directory A and the other in directory B, so we'll name them as
"A/foo_link1" and "B/foo_link2". Both hard links were persisted in a
past transaction (< N);

4) We have inode Y corresponding to a file that as a single hard link and
is located in directory A, we'll name it as "A/bar". This file was also
persisted in a past transaction (< N).

The steps leading to a file loss are the following and for all of them we
are under transaction N:

1) Link "A/foo_link1" is removed, so inode's X last_unlink_trans field
is updated to N, through btrfs_unlink() -> btrfs_record_unlink_dir();

2) Task A starts a rename for inode Y, with the goal of renaming from
"A/bar" to "A/baz", so we enter btrfs_rename();

3) Task A inserts the new BTRFS_INODE_REF_KEY for inode Y by calling
btrfs_insert_inode_ref();

4) Because the rename happens in the same directory, we don't set the
last_unlink_trans field of directoty A's inode to the current
transaction id, that is, we don't cal btrfs_record_unlink_dir();

5) Task A then removes the entries from directory A (BTRFS_DIR_ITEM_KEY
and BTRFS_DIR_INDEX_KEY items) when calling __btrfs_unlink_inode()
(actually the dir index item is added as a delayed item, but the
effect is the same);

6) Now before task A adds the new entry "A/baz" to directory A by
calling btrfs_add_link(), another task, task B is logging inode X;

7) Task B starts a fsync of inode X and after logging inode X, at
btrfs_log_inode_parent() it calls btrfs_log_all_parents(), since
inode X has a last_unlink_trans value of N, set at in step 1;

8) At btrfs_log_all_parents() we search for all parent directories of
inode X using the commit root, so we find directories A and B and log
them. Bu when logging direct A, we don't have a dir index item for
inode Y anymore, neither the old name "A/bar" nor for the new name
"A/baz" since the rename has deleted the old name but has not yet
inserted the new name - task A hasn't called yet btrfs_add_link() to
do that.

Note that logging directory A doesn't fallback to a transaction
commit because its last_unlink_trans has a lower value than the
current transaction's id (see step 4);

9) Task B finishes logging directories A and B and gets back to
btrfs_sync_file() where it calls btrfs_sync_log() to persist the log
tree;

10) Task B successfully persisted the log tree, btrfs_sync_log() completed
with success, and a power failure happened.

We have a log tree without any directory entry for inode Y, so the
log replay code deletes the entry for inode Y, name "A/bar", from the
subvolume tree since it doesn't exist in the log tree and the log
tree is authorative for its index (we logged a BTRFS_DIR_LOG_INDEX_KEY
item that covers the index range for the dentry that corresponds to
"A/bar").

Since there's no other hard link for inode Y and the log replay code
deletes the name "A/bar", the file is lost.

The issue wouldn't happen if task B synced the log only after task A
called btrfs_log_new_name(), which would update the log with the new name
for inode Y ("A/bar").

Fix this by pinning the log root during renames before removing the old
directory entry, and unpinning af
---truncated---

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.18 6.1.143

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 6.12.37-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.37-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.147-1 DSA-5973-1
Debian 11 linux-6.1 6.1.153-1~deb11u1 DLA-4328-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield 6.8.0-1016.20 —
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure-fde No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux 6.8.0-100.100 USN-8028-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws +1 6.8.0-1046.49 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws-6.14 +1 6.14.0-1015.15~24.04.1 USN-7833-3, USN-7833-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure 6.8.0-1046.52 USN-8074-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-6.14 6.14.0-1014.14~24.04.1 USN-7834-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 6.8.0-1046.53 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-nvidia 6.8.0-1039.42 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 6.14.0-1007.7 USN-7834-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp 6.8.0-1047.50 USN-8031-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.14 6.14.0-1018.19~24.04.1 USN-7833-4
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gke 6.8.0-1043.48 USN-8031-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gkeop 6.8.0-1030.33 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.14 6.14.0-34.34~24.04.1 USN-7856-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-ibm 6.8.0-1044.44 USN-8028-8
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 6.8.0-100.100.1 USN-8052-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-lowlatency 6.8.0-1046.49.1 USN-8028-7
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1020.20 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oem-6.14 6.14.0-1014.14 USN-7833-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle 6.8.0-1043.44 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.8.0-1047.51 USN-8028-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv-6.14 6.14.0-34.34.1~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-xilinx 6.8.0-1023.24 USN-8052-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.8 +1 6.8.0-1046.49~22.04.1 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.8 6.8.0-1051.57~22.04.1 USN-8126-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-6.8 6.8.0-1046.53~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.8 6.8.0-1047.50~22.04.2 USN-8031-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.8 +1 6.8.0-100.100~22.04.1 USN-8028-6
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm-6.8 6.8.0-1044.44~22.04.1 USN-8028-8
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-100.100.1~22.04.1 USN-8028-6
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.8 6.8.0-1043.44~22.04.1 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Show 5 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2037.38 USN-8028-3
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime 6.8.1-1041.42 USN-8028-3
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.14 6.14.0-1014.14~24.04.1 USN-7833-2
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.8 6.8.1-1041.42~22.04.1 USN-8028-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 6.8.0-1046.49+fips1 USN-8028-4
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 6.8.0-1046.52+fips1 USN-8074-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips 6.8.0-100.100+fips1 USN-8028-4
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 6.8.0-1047.50+fips1 USN-8031-2
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-64kb +5 6.4.0-150700.53.11.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02997-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150700.20.11.1 SUSE-SU-2025:03011-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150700.53.11.1.150700.17.9.4 SUSE-SU-2025:02997-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-docs 6.4.0-150700.53.11.3 SUSE-SU-2025:02997-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb +6 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02969-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-coco +3 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02923-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
Show 9 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 16.0 kernel-64kb +7 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES for SAP 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES 16.0 kernel-64kb +7 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLES 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1
SLE Micro 6.2 kernel-rt +5 6.12.0-160000.6.1 SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-32.1.21.10 SUSE-SU-2025:20602-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-35.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20601-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-32.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20602-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-32.1.21.10 SUSE-SU-2025:20586-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-35.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20577-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-32.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20586-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-default 6.4.0-150700.53.11.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02997-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_3 1-150700.1.5.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02853-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_3 1-150700.15.3.4 SUSE-SU-2025:02997-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_14 1-150600.1.5.1 SUSE-SU-2025:03023-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_14 1-150600.13.3.4 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-rt +2 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02853-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1 SUSE-SU-2025:03023-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 16.0 kernel-default-base 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1
openSUSE Leap 16.0 kernel-rt +10 6.12.0-160000.6.1 openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +10 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1 SUSE-SU-2025:02969-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4 SUSE-SU-2025:02996-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1 SUSE-SU-2025:03023-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.12.37-61.105 +1 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2025-1130, ALAS2023-2025-1111
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +14 1:6.1.144-170.251.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2025-1111
Amazon Linux 2023 perf6.12 +14 1:6.12.37-61.105.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2025-1130

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 kernel-uek +34 6.12.0-103.40.4.1.el10uek ELSA-2025-20551

Advisories 44

References