CVE-2025-40209 - CVE House
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Status published Unknown CVE-2025-40209

btrfs: fix memory leak of qgroup_list in btrfs_add_qgroup_relation

Vulnerability Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix memory leak of qgroup_list in btrfs_add_qgroup_relation When btrfs_add_qgroup_relation() is called with invalid qgroup levels (src >= dst), the function returns -EINVAL directly without freeing the preallocated qgroup_list structure passed by the caller. This causes a memory leak because the caller unconditionally sets the pointer to NULL after the call, preventing any cleanup. The issue occurs because the level validation check happens before the mutex is acquired and before any error handling path that would free the prealloc pointer. On this early return, the cleanup code at the 'out' label (which includes kfree(prealloc)) is never reached. In btrfs_ioctl_qgroup_assign(), the code pattern is: prealloc = kzalloc(sizeof(*prealloc), GFP_KERNEL); ret = btrfs_add_qgroup_relation(trans, sa->src, sa->dst, prealloc); prealloc = NULL; // Always set to NULL regardless of return value ... kfree(prealloc); // This becomes kfree(NULL), does nothing When the level check fails, 'prealloc' is never freed by either the callee or the caller, resulting in a 64-byte memory leak per failed operation. This can be triggered repeatedly by an unprivileged user with access to a writable btrfs mount, potentially exhausting kernel memory. Fix this by freeing prealloc before the early return, ensuring prealloc is always freed on all error paths.

Impact Analysis

Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.

Remediation

Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.

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Credits & Attribution

No credits recorded in the NVD database.

Affected Vendor

Affected Software

Linux
Vulnerable Versions:
4addc1ffd67ad34394674dc91379dc04cfdd2537, 6.11, 0, 6.12.58, 6.17.8, 6.18

Timeline

Official Publish: November 21st, 2025
Last Modified: May 11th, 2026
Added to House: July 22nd, 2026

CVSS Vectors

No vector data available

Weaknesses (CWE)

No CWE data available

MITRE ATT&CK TTPs

No associated TTPs found for this vulnerability.