Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-49738

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.232 / 5.10.168 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
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: f2fs: fix to do sanity check on i_extra_isize in is_alive() syzbot found a f2fs bug: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in data_blkaddr fs/f2fs/f2fs.h:2891 [inline] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in is_alive fs/f2fs/gc.c:1117 [inline] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in gc_data_segment fs/f2fs/gc.c:1520 [inline] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in do_garbage_collect+0x386a/0x3df0 fs/f2fs/gc.c:1734 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888076557568 by task kworker/u4:3/52 CPU: 1 PID: 52 Comm: kworker/u4:3 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc4-syzkaller-00362-gfef7fd48922d #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022 Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-7:0) Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xcd/0x134 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:284 [inline] print_report+0x15e/0x45d mm/kasan/report.c:395 kasan_report+0xbb/0x1f0 mm/kasan/report.c:495 data_blkaddr fs/f2fs/f2fs.h:2891 [inline] is_alive fs/f2fs/gc.c:1117 [inline] gc_data_segment fs/f2fs/gc.c:1520 [inline] do_garbage_collect+0x386a/0x3df0 fs/f2fs/gc.c:1734 f2fs_gc+0x88c/0x20a0 fs/f2fs/gc.c:1831 f2fs_balance_fs+0x544/0x6b0 fs/f2fs/segment.c:410 f2fs_write_inode+0x57e/0xe20 fs/f2fs/inode.c:753 write_inode fs/fs-writeback.c:1440 [inline] __writeback_single_inode+0xcfc/0x1440 fs/fs-writeback.c:1652 writeback_sb_inodes+0x54d/0xf90 fs/fs-writeback.c:1870 wb_writeback+0x2c5/0xd70 fs/fs-writeback.c:2044 wb_do_writeback fs/fs-writeback.c:2187 [inline] wb_workfn+0x2dc/0x12f0 fs/fs-writeback.c:2227 process_one_work+0x9bf/0x1710 kernel/workqueue.c:2289 worker_thread+0x665/0x1080 kernel/workqueue.c:2436 kthread+0x2e4/0x3a0 kernel/kthread.c:376 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:306 The root cause is that we forgot to do sanity check on .i_extra_isize in below path, result in accessing invalid address later, fix it. - gc_data_segment - is_alive - data_blkaddr - offset_in_addr

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-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read 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:< 5.4.232>= 5.5, < 5.10.168>= 5.11, < 5.15.93>= 5.16, < 6.1.11

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 5.4.232 / 5.10.168 / 5.15.93 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2325.10.1685.15.93
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel >= 6.1.11 (or >= 5.15.93, >= 5.10.168, >= 5.4.232 depending on your branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Determine which version branch your current kernel belongs to (e.g., 5.10.x, 5.15.x, 6.1.x)
  3. 3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix: for 5.4.x branch upgrade to >= 5.4.232; for 5.10.x branch upgrade to >= 5.10.168; for 5.15.x branch upgrade to >= 5.15.93; for 6.1.x branch upgrade to >= 6.1.11
  4. 4. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the f2fs module is loaded without the out-of-bounds error
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuild of out-of-tree kernel modules; ensure compatibility with system hardware and installed kernel modules before upgrading

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

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-49738 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-49738 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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