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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-48781

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-07-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.16.11 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: af_alg - get rid of alg_memory_allocated alg_memory_allocated does not seem to be really used. alg_proto does have a .memory_allocated field, but no corresponding .sysctl_mem. This means sk_has_account() returns true, but all sk_prot_mem_limits() users will trigger a NULL dereference [1]. THis was not a problem until SO_RESERVE_MEM addition. general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000001: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] CPU: 1 PID: 3591 Comm: syz-executor153 Not tainted 5.17.0-rc3-syzkaller-00316-gb81b1829e7e3 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 RIP: 0010:sk_prot_mem_limits include/net/sock.h:1523 [inline] RIP: 0010:sock_reserve_memory+0x1d7/0x330 net/core/sock.c:1000 Code: 08 00 74 08 48 89 ef e8 27 20 bb f9 4c 03 7c 24 10 48 8b 6d 00 48 83 c5 08 48 89 e8 48 c1 e8 03 48 b9 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df <80> 3c 08 00 74 08 48 89 ef e8 fb 1f bb f9 48 8b 6d 00 4c 89 ff 48 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001f1fb68 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff88814aabc000 RCX: dffffc0000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffffff90e18120 RBP: 0000000000000008 R08: dffffc0000000000 R09: fffffbfff21c3025 R10: fffffbfff21c3025 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffffff8d109840 R13: 0000000000001002 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000001 FS: 0000555556e08300(0000) GS:ffff8880b9b00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fc74416f130 CR3: 0000000073d9e000 CR4: 00000000003506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> sock_setsockopt+0x14a9/0x3a30 net/core/sock.c:1446 __sys_setsockopt+0x5af/0x980 net/socket.c:2176 __do_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2191 [inline] __se_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2188 [inline] __x64_sys_setsockopt+0xb1/0xc0 net/socket.c:2188 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x44/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae RIP: 0033:0x7fc7440fddc9 Code: 28 00 00 00 75 05 48 83 c4 28 c3 e8 51 15 00 00 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 c0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffe98f07968 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000036 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000003 RCX: 00007fc7440fddc9 RDX: 0000000000000049 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000004 R09: 00007ffe98f07990 R10: 0000000020000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007ffe98f0798c R13: 00007ffe98f079a0 R14: 00007ffe98f079e0 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010:sk_prot_mem_limits include/net/sock.h:1523 [inline] RIP: 0010:sock_reserve_memory+0x1d7/0x330 net/core/sock.c:1000 Code: 08 00 74 08 48 89 ef e8 27 20 bb f9 4c 03 7c 24 10 48 8b 6d 00 48 83 c5 08 48 89 e8 48 c1 e8 03 48 b9 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df <80> 3c 08 00 74 08 48 89 ef e8 fb 1f bb f9 48 8b 6d 00 4c 89 ff 48 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001f1fb68 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff88814aabc000 RCX: dffffc0000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffffff90e18120 RBP: 0000000000000008 R08: dffffc0000000000 R09: fffffbfff21c3025 R10: fffffbfff21c3025 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffffff8d109840 R13: 0000000000001002 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000001 FS: 0000555556e08300(0000) GS:ffff8880b9b00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fc74416f130 CR3: 0000000073d9e000 CR4: 00000000003506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:>= 5.16, < 5.16.11

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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 5.16.11 or later
Fixed in 5.16.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.16.11 or later

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.16.11 or later to resolve the NULL pointer dereference in crypto/af_alg
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with custom kernel modules; test in staging environment first

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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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-2022-48781 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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