A memory leak occurs inside the Linux kernel’s Btrfs filesystem during the insertion of an inline extent. When allocation of a path or the joining of a transaction fails, the function __cow_file_range_inline() exits without freeing the reserved qgroup data. The leak can grow over time, consuming kernel memory or quota accounting structures and eventually degrading system performance or causing a service outage. This weakness is a classic resource exhaustion flaw.

All Linux kernel builds that include the Btrfs implementation are potentially affected. The CPE list indicates all Linux kernels, with explicit mentions of kernel 6.19 release candidates 1 through 4. Thus any distribution or vendor that ships with a kernel containing the vulnerable Btrfs code is at risk until the fix is applied.

The CVSS score of 7.5 reflects a high severity level, but the EPSS score of less than 1% shows a low likelihood of exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Exploitation requires local or privileged access because the flaw resides in kernel‑level file system handling. While the risk of denial of service exists if the leak is repeatedly triggered, the practical attack window is limited and no widespread exploitation has been reported.