Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2026-90265

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Sep 17, 2026

CISA due date

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Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A bug in the Linux storage system can cause the computer to freeze when certain background cleanup tasks run at the same time.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Race Condition
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Deadlock occurs when btrfs defrag reserves delalloc space while holding dirty locked folios and extent range locks, causing kernel threads to wait indefinitely on transaction commits or metadata space reclamation.

Why it matters to the business

Filesystem operations on affected Linux systems can hang, leading to stalled workloads, reduced availability for storage services, and potential need for manual intervention or reboots.

How an attack unfolds

A workload or process triggers concurrent autodefrag and flushoncommit operations; this causes the defrag path to hold locks while attempting space reservation, blocking reclamation and writeback threads that require the same resources.

How to fix it

Apply the upstream btrfs fix for the deadlock between defrag and delalloc reservation; avoid enabling both autodefrag and flushoncommit simultaneously until patched.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm kernel version includes the btrfs defrag deadlock resolution; reproduce fsstress workload with autodefrag and flushoncommit and verify no deadlock occurs.

Typical attack path

  1. Enable autodefrag and flushoncommit on a btrfs filesystem
  2. Run concurrent file operations that trigger defrag and delalloc reservation
  3. Defrag holds locked folios and extent locks during reservation
  4. Reclamation or writeback threads block waiting for transaction or space
  5. System enters deadlock state with multiple kernel threads stuck

How to detect it

Review kernel logs for btrfs worker threads stuck in schedule or wait_current_trans states during defrag or writeback activity.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize patching btrfs in environments using autodefrag
  • Monitor for kernel thread hangs on btrfs filesystems
  • Temporarily disable autodefrag or flushoncommit as a workaround

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: defrag: fix deadlock between defrag and delalloc space reservation While running fsstress with autodefrag and flushoncommit, hit a deadlock due to the fact that defrag reserves delalloc space while it's holding dirty and locked folios, besides the extent range lock. The stack traces are the following: [958.624] task:kworker/u50:3 state:D stack:0 pid:20365 tgid:20365 ppid:2 task_flags:0x4208060 flags:0x00080000 [958.626] Workqueue: events_unbound btrfs_async_reclaim_metadata_space [btrfs] [958.627] Call Trace: [958.628] <TASK> [958.628] __schedule+0x4be/0x10f0 [958.629] ? preempt_count_add+0x69/0xa0 [958.630] schedule+0x26/0xd0 [958.631] wait_current_trans+0x102/0x160 [btrfs] [958.632] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 [958.633] start_transaction+0x374/0x900 [btrfs] [958.634] btrfs_commit_current_transaction+0x1d/0x70 [btrfs] [958.635] flush_space+0xca/0x5e0 [btrfs] [958.636] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x15/0x30 [958.637] ? btrfs_reduce_alloc_profile+0x8c/0x190 [btrfs] [958.639] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x15/0x30 [958.640] ? calc_available_free_space.isra.0+0x6f/0x110 [btrfs] [958.641] do_async_reclaim_metadata_space+0x84/0x190 [btrfs] [958.642] btrfs_async_reclaim_metadata_space+0x64/0x80 [btrfs] [958.644] process_one_work+0x19d/0x3a0 [958.644] worker_thread+0x1c4/0x330 [958.645] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [958.646] kthread+0xfc/0x130 [958.647] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [958.648] ret_from_fork+0x1f7/0x2c0 [958.648] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [958.649] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [958.650] </TASK> [958.651] task:kworker/u49:7 state:D stack:0 pid:52990 tgid:52990 ppid:2 task_flags:0x4208060 flags:0x00080000 [958.653] Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-btrfs-334) [958.655] Call Trace: [958.655] <TASK> [958.656] __schedule+0x4be/0x10f0 [958.657] ? __blk_flush_plug+0xe9/0x140 [958.658] schedule+0x26/0xd0 [958.658] io_schedule+0x42/0x70 [958.659] folio_wait_bit_common+0x12b/0x330 [958.660] ? folio_wait_bit_common+0x100/0x330 [958.662] ? __pfx_wake_page_function+0x10/0x10 [958.663] extent_write_cache_pages+0x599/0x830 [btrfs] [958.664] ? acpi_fwnode_get_reference_args+0x1fa/0x270 [958.665] btrfs_writepages+0x77/0x130 [btrfs] [958.666] ? __pfx_end_bbio_data_write+0x10/0x10 [btrfs] [958.667] do_writepages+0xc6/0x160 [958.668] __writeback_single_inode+0x42/0x310 [958.669] writeback_sb_inodes+0x231/0x570 [958.670] wb_writeback+0x8a/0x340 [958.671] wb_workfn+0xbf/0x450 [958.672] ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0xc1/0x350 [958.673] process_one_work+0x19d/0x3a0 [958.673] worker_thread+0x1c4/0x330 [958.674] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [958.675] kthread+0xfc/0x130 [958.676] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [958.676] ret_from_fork+0x1f7/0x2c0 [958.677] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [958.678] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [958.679] </TASK> [958.679] task:btrfs-cleaner state:D stack:0 pid:296750 tgid:296750 ppid:2 task_flags:0x208040 flags:0x00080000 [958.681] Call Trace: [958.682] <TASK> [958.682] __schedule+0x4be/0x10f0 [958.683] schedule+0x26/0xd0 [958.684] handle_reserve_ticket+0x1b9/0x2c0 [btrfs] [958.685] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 [958.686] reserve_bytes+0x283/0x4c0 [btrfs] [958.687] btrfs_reserve_metadata_bytes+0x18/0xb0 [btrfs] [958.688] btrfs_delalloc_reserve_metadata+0x121/0x320 [btrfs] [958.690] btrfs_delalloc_reserve_space+0x46/0xb0 [btrfs] [958.691] btrfs_defrag_file+0x903/0x1110 [btrfs] [958.692] btrfs_run_defrag_inodes+0x334/0x430 [btrfs] [958.694] cleaner_kthread+0x97/0x1c0 [btrfs] [958.694] ? __pfx_cleaner_kthread+0x10/0x10 [btrfs] [958.696] kthread+0xfc/0x130 [958.696] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [958.697] ret_ ---truncated---

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed