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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 17 Jul 2024.
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-2586

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-01-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.316 / 4.19.256 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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
It was discovered that a nft object or expression could reference a nft set on a different nft table, leading to a use-after-free once that table was deleted.

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 · high confidence

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's nftables subsystem where nft objects or expressions can reference a nft set on a different nft table. When the referenced table is deleted, the pointer becomes dangling, leading to use-after-free when that memory is accessed later.

MitigationUpgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix for this vulnerability, or apply the relevant kernel patch. Ensure proper table cleanup procedures are followed when managing nftables configurations.

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:>= 3.16, < 4.14.316>= 4.15, < 4.19.256>= 4.20, < 5.4.211>= 5.5, < 5.10.137>= 5.11, < 5.15.61>= 5.16, < 5.18.18>= 5.19, < 5.19.2
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 18.04= 20.04= 22.04

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 if nftables is installed
    Run 'which nft' or 'nft --version' to verify the nftables command is available
    Affected if nft command is not found - nftables is not installed and the system is not affected by this specific flaw
  2. Check if nftables is actively in use
    Run 'nft list ruleset' to see if any nftables rules are loaded
    Affected if No rules are loaded - the system may still have the vulnerable code but is not actively using the vulnerable feature
  3. Identify nftables tables and cross-table references
    Run 'nft list tables' to list all nftables tables, then for each table run 'nft list table <table_name>' and inspect if any rules reference sets from other tables using the 'ip saddr @setname' or similar syntax pointing to sets defined in different tables
    Affected if Rules exist that reference sets from tables other than the one containing the rule - this creates the condition for the dangling pointer when a referenced table is deleted
  4. Check the running kernel version
    Run 'uname -r' to get the kernel version
    Affected if The kernel version is 5.19.17 or earlier, or exactly 6.0 - these versions contain the vulnerable code

The system is affected if it runs a vulnerable kernel version (5.19.17 or earlier, or 6.0), has nftables installed with active rules, AND contains rules that reference sets from different tables.

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 4.14.316 / 4.19.256 / 5.4.211 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3164.19.2565.4.211
Vendor patch lore.kernel.org →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix for this vulnerability, or apply the relevant kernel patch. Ensure proper table cleanup procedures are followed when managing nftables configurations.

Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.19.18+ or 6.0.1+; Ubuntu 18.04/20.04: install HWE kernel updates via apt

  1. Identify the current kernel version with: uname -r
  2. For Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04: Run 'sudo apt update' followed by 'sudo apt upgrade linux-image-generic' to install the patched kernel
  3. For upstream Linux: Upgrade to kernel 5.19.18 or later, or 6.0.1 or later
  4. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel: sudo reboot
  5. Verify the new kernel version after reboot with: uname -r
Caveat Kernel updates may require driver recompilation; ensure compatible firmware and modules are available

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

Fix this in Linux Kernel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2022-2586 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