VYPR
Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Dec 24, 2025· Updated Apr 15, 2026

CVE-2023-54158

CVE-2023-54158

Description

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

btrfs: don't free qgroup space unless specified

Boris noticed in his simple quotas testing that he was getting a leak with Sweet Tea's change to subvol create that stopped doing a transaction commit. This was just a side effect of that change.

In the delayed inode code we have an optimization that will free extra reservations if we think we can pack a dir item into an already modified leaf. Previously this wouldn't be triggered in the subvolume create case because we'd commit the transaction, it was still possible but much harder to trigger. It could actually be triggered if we did a mkdir && subvol create with qgroups enabled.

This occurs because in btrfs_insert_delayed_dir_index(), which gets called when we're adding the dir item, we do the following:

btrfs_block_rsv_release(fs_info, trans->block_rsv, bytes, NULL);

if we're able to skip reserving space.

The problem here is that trans->block_rsv points at the temporary block rsv for the subvolume create, which has qgroup reservations in the block rsv.

This is a problem because btrfs_block_rsv_release() will do the following:

if (block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_reserved >= block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_size) { qgroup_to_release = block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_reserved - block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_size; block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_reserved = block_rsv->qgroup_rsv_size; }

The temporary block rsv just has ->qgroup_rsv_reserved set, ->qgroup_rsv_size == 0. The optimization in btrfs_insert_delayed_dir_index() sets ->qgroup_rsv_reserved = 0. Then later on when we call btrfs_subvolume_release_metadata() which has

btrfs_block_rsv_release(fs_info, rsv, (u64)-1, &qgroup_to_release); btrfs_qgroup_convert_reserved_meta(root, qgroup_to_release);

qgroup_to_release is set to 0, and we do not convert the reserved metadata space.

The problem here is that the block rsv code has been unconditionally messing with ->qgroup_rsv_reserved, because the main place this is used is delalloc, and any time we call btrfs_block_rsv_release() we do it with qgroup_to_release set, and thus do the proper accounting.

The subvolume code is the only other code that uses the qgroup reservation stuff, but it's intermingled with the above optimization, and thus was getting its reservation freed out from underneath it and thus leaking the reserved space.

The solution is to simply not mess with the qgroup reservations if we don't have qgroup_to_release set. This works with the existing code as anything that messes with the delalloc reservations always have qgroup_to_release set. This fixes the leak that Boris was observing.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

Linux kernel btrfs qgroup space leak when creating subvolumes due to premature release of reserved metadata.

Vulnerability

In the Linux kernel's btrfs filesystem, a qgroup space leak occurs during subvolume creation when qgroups are enabled. The bug arises in btrfs_insert_delayed_dir_index(), which calls btrfs_block_rsv_release() on the temporary block reserve used for subvolume creation. This function modifies qgroup_rsv_reserved without considering the reserve's qgroup_rsv_size, setting it to zero and causing a leak [1][2].

Exploitation

An attacker with local access and the ability to create subvolumes (e.g., via mkdir and subvol create) can trigger the vulnerability if quotas are active. The issue was previously mitigated by a transaction commit that cleared the temporary reserve, but a change to subvolume creation removed that commit, making the leak exploitable [3].

Impact

Successful exploitation leads to a gradual exhaustion of qgroup metadata space, potentially causing denial of service as the filesystem runs out of reserved quota space. There is no evidence of privilege escalation or data corruption.

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in Linux stable kernels via commits [1], [2], [3], and [4]. Users should update to the latest kernel versions or apply the patches. No workaround is available if qgroups are required.

AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

2

Patches

7

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated by null/stub on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

7

News mentions

0

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