Vulnerability · Published Oct 7, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53618btrfs: reject invalid reloc tree root keys with stack dump

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 10% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 89.8% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: reject invalid reloc tree root keys with stack dump [BUG] Syzbot reported a crash that an ASSERT() got triggered inside prepare_to_merge(). That ASSERT() makes sure the reloc tree is properly pointed back by its subvolume tree. [CAUSE] After more debugging output, it turns out we had an invalid reloc tree: BTRFS error (device loop1): reloc tree mismatch, root 8 has no reloc root, expect reloc root key (-8, 132, 8) gen 17 Note the above root key is (TREE_RELOC_OBJECTID, ROOT_ITEM, QUOTA_TREE_OBJECTID), meaning it's a reloc tree for quota tree. But reloc trees can only exist for subvolumes, as for non-subvolume trees, we just COW the involved tree block, no need to create a reloc tree since those tree blocks won't be shared with other trees. Only subvolumes tree can share tree blocks with other trees (thus they have BTRFS_ROOT_SHAREABLE flag). Thus this new debug output proves my previous assumption that corrupted on-disk data can trigger that ASSERT(). [FIX] Besides the dedicated fix and the graceful exit, also let tree-checker to check such root keys, to make sure reloc trees can only exist for subvolumes.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.52-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53618
Debian:13linux6.4.11-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53618
Debian:14linux6.4.11-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-91.101UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1051.56UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1053.61UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1053.61.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1048.56UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1048.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1034.40UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1044.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1046.52UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1048.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-91.101UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1042.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1020.20UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1049.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1044.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1027.31UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53618

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541 – before 314135b7bae9618a317874ae195272682cf2d5d4259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541 – before 3ae93b316ca4b8b3c33798ef1d210355f2fb9318259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541 – before 84256e00eeca73c529fc6196e478cc89b8098157259ee7754b6793af8bdd77f9ca818bc41cfe9541 – before 6ebcd021c92b8e4b904552e4d87283032100796d3d95c52d789ca99e344061d7f6dadb2519adbcf5fba904d68c8bbfcc89c2210cfcb2351be90bc3e55.2.19 – before 5.35.3.4 – before 5.4
Linux Linux 5.4

References