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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 11 Sep 2024.
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-0185

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.173 / 5.10.93 or later.
See remediation →
99/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way the legacy_parse_param function in the Filesystem Context functionality of the Linux kernel verified the supplied parameters length. An unprivileged (in case of unprivileged user namespaces enabled, otherwise needs namespaced CAP_SYS_ADMIN privilege) local user able to open a filesystem that does not support the Filesystem Context API (and thus fallbacks to legacy handling) could use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the system.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A heap-based buffer overflow in the Linux kernel's legacy_parse_param function within the Filesystem Context API allows local privilege escalation. The flaw exists when handling parameters for filesystems that fall back to legacy handling (those without native Filesystem Context support). An unprivileged user with user namespaces enabled, or one with namespaced CAP_SYS_ADMIN, can exploit this to gain elevated privileges.

MitigationApply the corresponding kernel security update; if user namespaces are not required in the environment, consider disabling unprivileged user namespace creation as a defense-in-depth measure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.1, < 5.4.173>= 5.5, < 5.10.93>= 5.11, < 5.15.16>= 5.16, < 5.16.2
H410c FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H300s FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H500s FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H700s FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H300e FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H500e FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
H700e FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check the running Linux kernel version
    Run `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version` to obtain the kernel version string
    Affected if The kernel version falls within any of these ranges: >= 5.1 and < 5.4.173; >= 5.5 and < 5.10.93; >= 5.11 and < 5.15.16; >= 5.16 and < 5.16.2
  2. Check NetApp H-series firmware version
    For NetApp H300s, H500s, H700s, H300e, H500e, H700e, or H410c, check the firmware version through the system management interface or BMC
    Affected if Any firmware version is installed (all versions are affected per the advisory)

You are affected if you run any Linux kernel version within the affected ranges (5.1 to 5.4.173, 5.5 to 5.10.93, 5.11 to 5.15.16, or 5.16 to 5.16.2), or if you use any NetApp H-series firmware version.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.4.173 / 5.10.93 / 5.15.16 or later
Fixed in 5.4.1735.10.935.15.16
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Interim mitigation

Apply the corresponding kernel security update; if user namespaces are not required in the environment, consider disabling unprivileged user namespace creation as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.4.173+ / 5.10.93+ / 5.15.16+ / 5.16.2+ (choose the appropriate version based on your current branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. 2. Check which kernel branch your current version belongs to (e.g., 5.10.x, 5.15.x, etc.)
  3. 3. For systems running kernel 5.1-5.4.x: upgrade to kernel version 5.4.173 or later
  4. 4. For systems running kernel 5.5-5.10.x: upgrade to kernel version 5.10.93 or later
  5. 5. For systems running kernel 5.11-5.15.x: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.16 or later
  6. 6. For systems running kernel 5.16.x: upgrade to kernel version 5.16.2 or later
  7. 7. Update bootloader configuration if necessary (e.g., update-grub for GRUB)
  8. 8. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules (e.g., NVIDIA drivers, VirtualBox); ensure compatibility with the new kernel version before upgrading in production environments

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Linux Kernel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-0185 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data