In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix invalid pointer dereference in __btrfs_run_delayed_refs()…
CVE-2026-74321 · published 15 Aug 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.5 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-74321?
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Who is affected
- Linux Linux: 4.20
How to check
- Find out whether you run the affected product and which version, then compare it with the versions above.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex that asks it to check whether you run this product.
- Apply the vendor's update or mitigation from the references below. If there is none yet, limit exposure of the affected service until there is.
- If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: fix invalid pointer dereference in __btrfs_run_delayed_refs()
In the beginning of the loop, we try to obtain a locked delayed ref head,
if 'locked_ref' is currently NULL, by calling btrfs_select_ref_head(),
which can return an error pointer. If the error pointer is -EAGAIN we do
a continue and go back to the beginning of the loop, which will not try
again to call btrfs_select_ref_head() since 'locked_ref' is no longer
NULL but it's ERR_PTR(-EAGAIN), and then we do:
spin_lock(&locked_ref->lock);
against a ERR_PTR(-EAGAIN) value, generating an invalid pointer
dereference.
Fix this by ensuring that 'locked_ref' is set to NULL when
btrfs_select_ref_head() returns ERR_PTR(-EAGAIN) and incrementing 'count'
as well, to prevent infinite looping. We do this by doing a goto to the
bottom of the loop that already sets 'locked_ref' to NULL and does a
cond_resched(), with an increment to 'count' right before the goto.
These measures were in place before the refactoring in commit 0110a4c43451
("btrfs: refactor __btrfs_run_delayed_refs loop") but were unintentionally
lost afterwards.
Check your whole app
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References
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/015dc4a1e0c2cba551d4620eba13d26d5081dc34
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b15d02be05e74321adb1e0ae0cb4ccfba7c6cb1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/486f8298b6188ff11ef1f4be7f1d5d2e4d1b1fae
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/65770111a2d47c2b15e20b2ba92bb12198f289d4
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9faa6b69ad73f03c7bde53e07d75a28822dc9a1a
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a71143590ce9764dbcb47617647592ff8b4d48bc
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba9fa2ff5981589bb49094d3358c339b37c47f53
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c372ca227e16bace86f1df1fa4ae6849e2fcfa28
Merged from NVD. Last updated 23 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON