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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2023-54023: btrfs: fix race between balance and cancel/pause

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 0/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.18% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Fixed version: Linux Linux 72efe5d44821e38540888a5fe3ff3d0faab6acad, b19c98f237cd76981aaded52c258ce93f7daa8cb, ddf7e8984c83aee9122552529f4e77291903f8d9.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 72efe5d44821e38540888a5fe3ff3d0faab6acad, b19c98f237cd76981aaded52c258ce93f7daa8cb, ddf7e8984c83aee9122552529f4e77291903f8d9 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix race between balance and cancel/pause Syzbot reported a panic that looks like this: assertion failed: fs_info->exclusive_operation == BTRFS_EXCLOP_BALANCE_PAUSED, in fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:465 ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/messages.c:259! RIP: 0010:btrfs_assertfail+0x2c/0x30 fs/btrfs/messages.c:259 Call Trace: <TASK> btrfs_exclop_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:465 [inline] btrfs_ioctl_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3564 [inline] btrfs_ioctl+0x531e/0x5b30 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:4632 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x197/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd The reproducer is running a balance and a cancel or pause in parallel. The way balance finishes is a bit wonky, if we were paused we need to save the balance_ctl in the fs_info, but clear it otherwise and cleanup. However we rely on the return values being specific errors, or having a cancel request or no pause request. If balance completes and returns 0, but we have a pause or cancel request we won't do the appropriate cleanup, and then the next time we try to start a balance we'll trip this ASSERT. The error handling is just wrong here, we always want to clean up, unless we got -ECANCELLED and we set the appropriate pause flag in the exclusive op. With this patch the reproducer ran for an hour without tripping, previously it would trip in less than a few minutes.

—No exploit Fix available
Published
Dec 24, 2025
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.1% · 8th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

0

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
0 / 40 · —
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.1%

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Noroxi analysis

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

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—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Linux Linux

    • 3.3affected
    • 837d5b6e46d1a4af5b6cc8f2fe83cb5de79a2961 and later · before ddf7e8984c83aee9122552529f4e77291903f8d9affected · git
    • 837d5b6e46d1a4af5b6cc8f2fe83cb5de79a2961 and later · before 72efe5d44821e38540888a5fe3ff3d0faab6acadaffected · git
    • 837d5b6e46d1a4af5b6cc8f2fe83cb5de79a2961 and later · before b19c98f237cd76981aaded52c258ce93f7daa8cbaffected · git
    • before 3.3not affected · semver
    • 6.1.42 and later · up to and including 6.1.*not affected · semver
    • 6.4.7 and later · up to and including 6.4.*not affected · semver
    • 6.5 and laternot affected · original_commit_for_fix

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12linuxbefore 6.1.52-16.1.52-1
Debian:13linuxbefore 6.4.11-16.4.11-1

Same product

linux: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-74705udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74612veth: fix skb length accounting after XDP frag adjustment
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74475vxlan: use neigh_ha_snapshot() in route_shortcircuit()
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-54021Dec 24, 2025 · ext4: set goal start correctly in ext4_mb_normalize_request
    0Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-54022Dec 24, 2025 · ALSA: usb-audio: Fix potential memory leaks at error path for UMP open
    0Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2023-54024Dec 24, 2025 · KVM: Destroy target device if coalesced MMIO unregistration fails
    0Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Linux Linux72efe5d44821e38540888a5fe3ff3d0faab6acadVendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxb19c98f237cd76981aaded52c258ce93f7daa8cbVendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxddf7e8984c83aee9122552529f4e77291903f8d9Vendor (CNA)
debian:linux6.1.52-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

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No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

No CVSS vector for this record, so attack conditions can't be derived.

Weakness class (CWE)

—

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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