CVE-2025-21942

MEDIUM
Published Apr 1, 2025 Modified Oct 30, 2025 CWE-835

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: zoned: fix extent range end unlock in cow_file_range() Running generic/751 on the for-next branch often results in a hang like below. They are both stack by locking an extent. This suggests someone forget to unlock an extent. INFO: task kworker/u128:1:12 blocked for more than 323 seconds. Not tainted 6.13.0-BTRFS-ZNS+ #503 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. task:kworker/u128:1 state:D stack:0 pid:12 tgid:12 ppid:2 flags:0x00004000 Workqueue: btrfs-fixup btrfs_work_helper [btrfs] Call Trace: <TASK> __schedule+0x534/0xdd0 schedule+0x39/0x140 __lock_extent+0x31b/0x380 [btrfs] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 btrfs_writepage_fixup_worker+0xf1/0x3a0 [btrfs] btrfs_work_helper+0xff/0x480 [btrfs] ? lock_release+0x178/0x2c0 process_one_work+0x1ee/0x570 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f worker_thread+0x1d1/0x3b0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0x10b/0x230 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> INFO: task kworker/u134:0:184 blocked for more than 323 seconds. Not tainted 6.13.0-BTRFS-ZNS+ #503 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. task:kworker/u134:0 state:D stack:0 pid:184 tgid:184 ppid:2 flags:0x00004000 Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-btrfs-4) Call Trace: <TASK> __schedule+0x534/0xdd0 schedule+0x39/0x140 __lock_extent+0x31b/0x380 [btrfs] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 find_lock_delalloc_range+0xdb/0x260 [btrfs] writepage_delalloc+0x12f/0x500 [btrfs] ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f extent_write_cache_pages+0x232/0x840 [btrfs] btrfs_writepages+0x72/0x130 [btrfs] do_writepages+0xe7/0x260 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? lock_acquire+0xd2/0x300 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 ? wbc_attach_and_unlock_inode.part.0+0x102/0x250 ? wbc_attach_and_unlock_inode.part.0+0x102/0x250 __writeback_single_inode+0x5c/0x4b0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x22d/0x550 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x4c/0xe0 wb_writeback+0x2f6/0x3f0 wb_workfn+0x32a/0x510 process_one_work+0x1ee/0x570 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f worker_thread+0x1d1/0x3b0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0x10b/0x230 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> This happens because we have another success path for the zoned mode. When there is no active zone available, btrfs_reserve_extent() returns -EAGAIN. In this case, we have two reactions. (1) If the given range is never allocated, we can only wait for someone to finish a zone, so wait on BTRFS_FS_NEED_ZONE_FINISH bit and retry afterward. (2) Or, if some allocations are already done, we must bail out and let the caller to send IOs for the allocation. This is because these IOs may be necessary to finish a zone. The commit 06f364284794 ("btrfs: do proper folio cleanup when cow_file_range() failed") moved the unlock code from the inside of the loop to the outside. So, previously, the allocated extents are unlocked just after the allocation and so before returning from the function. However, they are no longer unlocked on the case (2) above. That caused the hang issue. Fix the issue by modifying the 'end' to the end of the allocated range. Then, we can exit the loop and the same unlock code can properly handle the case.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5
MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-835 CWE-835

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-21942? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: zoned: fix extent range end unlock in cow_file_range() Running generic/751 on the for-next branch often results in a hang like below. They are both stack by locking an extent. This suggests someone forget to unlock an extent. INFO: task kworker/u128:1:12 blocked for more than 323 seconds. Not tainted 6.13.0-BTRFS-ZNS+ #503 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. task:kworker/u128:1 state:D stack:0 pid:12 tgid:12 ppid:2 flags:0x00004000 Workqueue: btrfs-fixup btrfs_work_helper [btrfs] Call Trace: <TASK> __schedule+0x534/0xdd0 schedule+0x39/0x140 __lock_extent+0x31b/0x380 [btrfs] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 btrfs_writepage_fixup_worker+0xf1/0x3a0 [btrfs] btrfs_work_helper+0xff/0x480 [btrfs] ? lock_release+0x178/0x2c0 process_one_work+0x1ee/0x570 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f worker_thread+0x1d1/0x3b0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0x10b/0x230 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> INFO: task kworker/u134:0:184 blocked for more than 323 seconds. Not tainted 6.13.0-BTRFS-ZNS+ #503 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. task:kworker/u134:0 state:D stack:0 pid:184 tgid:184 ppid:2 flags:0x00004000 Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-btrfs-4) Call Trace: <TASK> __schedule+0x534/0xdd0 schedule+0x39/0x140 __lock_extent+0x31b/0x380 [btrfs] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 find_lock_delalloc_range+0xdb/0x260 [btrfs] writepage_delalloc+0x12f/0x500 [btrfs] ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f extent_write_cache_pages+0x232/0x840 [btrfs] btrfs_writepages+0x72/0x130 [btrfs] do_writepages+0xe7/0x260 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? lock_acquire+0xd2/0x300 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 ? wbc_attach_and_unlock_inode.part.0+0x102/0x250 ? wbc_attach_and_unlock_inode.part.0+0x102/0x250 __writeback_single_inode+0x5c/0x4b0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x22d/0x550 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x4c/0xe0 wb_writeback+0x2f6/0x3f0 wb_workfn+0x32a/0x510 process_one_work+0x1ee/0x570 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f worker_thread+0x1d1/0x3b0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0x10b/0x230 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> This happens because we have another success path for the zoned mode. When there is no active zone available, btrfs_reserve_extent() returns -EAGAIN. In this case, we have two reactions. (1) If the given range is never allocated, we can only wait for someone to finish a zone, so wait on BTRFS_FS_NEED_ZONE_FINISH bit and retry afterward. (2) Or, if some allocations are already done, we must bail out and let the caller to send IOs for the allocation. This is because these IOs may be necessary to finish a zone. The commit 06f364284794 ("btrfs: do proper folio cleanup when cow_file_range() failed") moved the unlock code from the inside of the loop to the outside. So, previously, the allocated extents are unlocked just after the allocation and so before returning from the function. However, they are no longer unlocked on the case (2) above. That caused the hang issue. Fix the issue by modifying the 'end' to the end of the allocated range. Then, we can exit the loop and the same unlock code can properly handle the case. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2025-21942? +
CVE-2025-21942 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.
What products are affected by CVE-2025-21942? +
CVE-2025-21942 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-21942? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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