Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-48878

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.165 / 5.15.90 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: Bluetooth: hci_qca: Fix driver shutdown on closed serdev The driver shutdown callback (which sends EDL_SOC_RESET to the device over serdev) should not be invoked when HCI device is not open (e.g. if hci_dev_open_sync() failed), because the serdev and its TTY are not open either. Also skip this step if device is powered off (qca_power_shutdown()). The shutdown callback causes use-after-free during system reboot with Qualcomm Atheros Bluetooth: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0072662f67726fd7 ... CPU: 6 PID: 1 Comm: systemd-shutdow Tainted: G W 6.1.0-rt5-00325-g8a5f56bcfcca #8 Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Robotics RB5 (DT) Call trace: tty_driver_flush_buffer+0x4/0x30 serdev_device_write_flush+0x24/0x34 qca_serdev_shutdown+0x80/0x130 [hci_uart] device_shutdown+0x15c/0x260 kernel_restart+0x48/0xac KASAN report: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in tty_driver_flush_buffer+0x1c/0x50 Read of size 8 at addr ffff16270c2e0018 by task systemd-shutdow/1 CPU: 7 PID: 1 Comm: systemd-shutdow Not tainted 6.1.0-next-20221220-00014-gb85aaf97fb01-dirty #28 Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Robotics RB5 (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace.part.0+0xdc/0xf0 show_stack+0x18/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x84 print_report+0x188/0x488 kasan_report+0xa4/0xf0 __asan_load8+0x80/0xac tty_driver_flush_buffer+0x1c/0x50 ttyport_write_flush+0x34/0x44 serdev_device_write_flush+0x48/0x60 qca_serdev_shutdown+0x124/0x274 device_shutdown+0x1e8/0x350 kernel_restart+0x48/0xb0 __do_sys_reboot+0x244/0x2d0 __arm64_sys_reboot+0x54/0x70 invoke_syscall+0x60/0x190 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x7c/0x160 do_el0_svc+0x44/0xf0 el0_svc+0x2c/0x6c el0t_64_sync_handler+0xbc/0x140 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194

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-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free 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:>= 5.8, < 5.10.165>= 5.11, < 5.15.90>= 5.16, < 6.1.8

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

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 5.10.165 / 5.15.90 / 6.1.8 or later
Fixed in 5.10.1655.15.906.1.8
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.10.165, 5.15.90, or 6.1.8 (or later stable release)

  1. 1. Identify your current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. 2. For RHEL/CentOS systems: update kernel via 'yum update kernel' or 'dnf update kernel'
  3. 3. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: update kernel via 'apt update && apt upgrade linux-image-generic'
  4. 4. For upstream kernels: compile and install from kernel.org sources, ensuring to use version 5.10.165, 5.15.90, or 6.1.8 or later
  5. 5. Reboot the system into the new kernel version
  6. 6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches or exceeds the fixed releases
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuild of out-of-tree modules; ensure third-party kernel modules are compatible with the target version

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 $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-48878 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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