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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-48970

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.227 / 5.10.159 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: af_unix: Get user_ns from in_skb in unix_diag_get_exact(). Wei Chen reported a NULL deref in sk_user_ns() [0][1], and Paolo diagnosed the root cause: in unix_diag_get_exact(), the newly allocated skb does not have sk. [2] We must get the user_ns from the NETLINK_CB(in_skb).sk and pass it to sk_diag_fill(). [0]: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000270 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 12bbce067 P4D 12bbce067 PUD 12bc40067 PMD 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP CPU: 0 PID: 27942 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc5-next-20221118 #2 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.13.0-48-gd9c812dda519-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:sk_user_ns include/net/sock.h:920 [inline] RIP: 0010:sk_diag_dump_uid net/unix/diag.c:119 [inline] RIP: 0010:sk_diag_fill+0x77d/0x890 net/unix/diag.c:170 Code: 89 ef e8 66 d4 2d fd c7 44 24 40 00 00 00 00 49 8d 7c 24 18 e8 54 d7 2d fd 49 8b 5c 24 18 48 8d bb 70 02 00 00 e8 43 d7 2d fd <48> 8b 9b 70 02 00 00 48 8d 7b 10 e8 33 d7 2d fd 48 8b 5b 10 48 8d RSP: 0018:ffffc90000d67968 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: ffff88812badaa48 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffffffff840d481d RDX: 0000000000000465 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000270 RBP: ffffc90000d679a8 R08: 0000000000000277 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0001ffffffffffff R11: 0001c90000d679a8 R12: ffff88812ac03800 R13: ffff88812c87c400 R14: ffff88812ae42210 R15: ffff888103026940 FS: 00007f08b4e6f700(0000) GS:ffff88813bc00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000270 CR3: 000000012c58b000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> unix_diag_get_exact net/unix/diag.c:285 [inline] unix_diag_handler_dump+0x3f9/0x500 net/unix/diag.c:317 __sock_diag_cmd net/core/sock_diag.c:235 [inline] sock_diag_rcv_msg+0x237/0x250 net/core/sock_diag.c:266 netlink_rcv_skb+0x13e/0x250 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2564 sock_diag_rcv+0x24/0x40 net/core/sock_diag.c:277 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1330 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x5e9/0x6b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1356 netlink_sendmsg+0x739/0x860 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1932 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:734 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x38f/0x500 net/socket.c:2476 ___sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2530 [inline] __sys_sendmsg+0x197/0x230 net/socket.c:2559 __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2568 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2566 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x42/0x50 net/socket.c:2566 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x2b/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x4697f9 Code: f7 d8 64 89 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 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 bc ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f08b4e6ec48 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000000000077bf80 RCX: 00000000004697f9 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000200001c0 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00000000004d29e9 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 000000000077bf80 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000077bf80 R15: 00007ffdb36bc6c0 </TASK> Modules linked in: CR2: 0000000000000270 [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/CAO4mrfdvyjFpokhNsiwZiP-wpdSD0AStcJwfKcKQdAALQ9_2Qw@mail.gmail.com/ [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/[email protected]/

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:>= 5.3, < 5.4.227>= 5.5, < 5.10.159>= 5.11, < 5.15.83>= 5.16, < 6.0.13= 6.1

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 5.4.227 / 5.10.159 / 5.15.83 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2275.10.1595.15.83
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel version 5.4.227, 5.10.159, 5.15.83, or 6.0.13 (or later respective stable releases)

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which version range your current kernel falls into based on the affected versions: >= 5.3 and < 5.4.227, >= 5.5 and < 5.10.159, >= 5.11 and < 5.15.83, or >= 5.16 and < 6.0.13
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 5.4.227 or later (for 5.3.x kernels), 5.10.159 or later (for 5.5-5.10 kernels), 5.15.83 or later (for 5.11-5.15 kernels), or 6.0.13 or later (for 5.16-6.0 kernels)
  4. Use your distribution's package manager to install the updated kernel (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version> for Debian/Ubuntu, or yum/dnf for RHEL/CentOS)
  5. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming unix_diag functionality works without the NULL pointer dereference
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with existing drivers or 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-2022-48970 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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