Re: [PATCH v2 fs/btrfs v2] btrfs: fix memory leak of qgroup_list in btrfs_add_qgroup_relation

On Sat, Oct 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM Shardul Bankar shardulsb08@gmail.com wrote:

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.

Fixes: 8465ecec9611 ("btrfs: Check qgroup level in kernel qgroup assign.")

This is completely wrong... When that commit landed we didn't even have the 'prealloc'...

The right commit is:

4addc1ffd67a ("btrfs: qgroup: preallocate memory before adding a relation")

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # v4.0+

And this becomes 6.11. But with a Fixes tag we pretty much don't need it, stable scripts will figure everything out.

Thanks.

Signed-off-by: Shardul Bankar shardulsb08@gmail.com

v2:

• Free prealloc directly before returning -EINVAL (no mutex held), per review from Qu Wenruo.
• Drop goto-based cleanup.

fs/btrfs/qgroup.c | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c b/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c index 1175b8192cd7..31ad8580322a 100644 --- a/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c +++ b/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c @@ -1539,8 +1539,10 @@ int btrfs_add_qgroup_relation(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans, u64 src, u64 dst ASSERT(prealloc);

    /* Check the level of src and dst first */

•   if (btrfs_qgroup_level(src) >= btrfs_qgroup_level(dst))
  

•   if (btrfs_qgroup_level(src) >= btrfs_qgroup_level(dst)) {
  

•           kfree(prealloc);
            return -EINVAL;
  

•   }
  
    mutex_lock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
    if (!fs_info->quota_root) {
  

-- 2.34.1