Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2022-48969
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xen-netfront: Fix NULL sring after live migration A NAPI is setup for each network sring to poll data to kernel The sring with source host is destroyed before live migration and new sring with target host is setup after live migration. The NAPI for the old sring is not deleted until setup new sring with target host after migration. With busy_poll/busy_read enabled, the NAPI can be polled before got deleted when resume VM. BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000008 IP: xennet_poll+0xae/0xd20 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI Call Trace: finish_task_switch+0x71/0x230 timerqueue_del+0x1d/0x40 hrtimer_try_to_cancel+0xb5/0x110 xennet_alloc_rx_buffers+0x2a0/0x2a0 napi_busy_loop+0xdb/0x270 sock_poll+0x87/0x90 do_sys_poll+0x26f/0x580 tracing_map_insert+0x1d4/0x2f0 event_hist_trigger+0x14a/0x260 finish_task_switch+0x71/0x230 __schedule+0x256/0x890 recalc_sigpending+0x1b/0x50 xen_sched_clock+0x15/0x20 __rb_reserve_next+0x12d/0x140 ring_buffer_lock_reserve+0x123/0x3d0 event_triggers_call+0x87/0xb0 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x1c4/0x210 xen_clocksource_get_cycles+0x15/0x20 ktime_get_ts64+0x51/0xf0 SyS_ppoll+0x160/0x1a0 SyS_ppoll+0x160/0x1a0 do_syscall_64+0x73/0x130 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x41/0xa6 ... RIP: xennet_poll+0xae/0xd20 RSP: ffffb4f041933900 CR2: 0000000000000008 ---[ end trace f8601785b354351c ]--- xen frontend should remove the NAPIs for the old srings before live migration as the bond srings are destroyed There is a tiny window between the srings are set to NULL and the NAPIs are disabled, It is safe as the NAPI threads are still frozen at that time
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 analysisThe 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
>= 2.6.24, < 4.19.269>= 4.20, < 5.4.227>= 5.5, < 5.10.159>= 5.11, < 5.15.83>= 5.16, < 6.0.13= 6.1CVSS 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 · scoped4.19.2695.4.2275.10.159
Linux kernel >= 4.19.269, >= 5.4.227, >= 5.10.159, or >= 5.15.83
- Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r'
- Determine which distribution and version of Linux is running
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 4.19.269 or higher, 5.4.227 or higher, 5.10.159 or higher, or 5.15.83 or higher
- For enterprise Linux distributions, apply the vendor-provided kernel update (e.g., 'yum update kernel' or 'apt-get install linux-image-<fixed-version>')
- Reboot the system to load the new kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and ensuring the module 'xen_netfront' loads correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-48969 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-48969 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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