Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-49740

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

NVD · unedited

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: brcmfmac: Check the count value of channel spec to prevent out-of-bounds reads This patch fixes slab-out-of-bounds reads in brcmfmac that occur in brcmf_construct_chaninfo() and brcmf_enable_bw40_2g() when the count value of channel specifications provided by the device is greater than the length of 'list->element[]', decided by the size of the 'list' allocated with kzalloc(). The patch adds checks that make the functions free the buffer and return -EINVAL if that is the case. Note that the negative return is handled by the caller, brcmf_setup_wiphybands() or brcmf_cfg80211_attach(). Found by a modified version of syzkaller. Crash Report from brcmf_construct_chaninfo(): ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in brcmf_setup_wiphybands+0x1238/0x1430 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888115f24600 by task kworker/0:2/1896 CPU: 0 PID: 1896 Comm: kworker/0:2 Tainted: G W O 5.14.0+ #132 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.12.1-0-ga5cab58e9a3f-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: usb_hub_wq hub_event Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x57/0x7d print_address_description.constprop.0.cold+0x93/0x334 kasan_report.cold+0x83/0xdf brcmf_setup_wiphybands+0x1238/0x1430 brcmf_cfg80211_attach+0x2118/0x3fd0 brcmf_attach+0x389/0xd40 brcmf_usb_probe+0x12de/0x1690 usb_probe_interface+0x25f/0x710 really_probe+0x1be/0xa90 __driver_probe_device+0x2ab/0x460 driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 __device_attach_driver+0x18a/0x250 bus_for_each_drv+0x123/0x1a0 __device_attach+0x207/0x330 bus_probe_device+0x1a2/0x260 device_add+0xa61/0x1ce0 usb_set_configuration+0x984/0x1770 usb_generic_driver_probe+0x69/0x90 usb_probe_device+0x9c/0x220 really_probe+0x1be/0xa90 __driver_probe_device+0x2ab/0x460 driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 __device_attach_driver+0x18a/0x250 bus_for_each_drv+0x123/0x1a0 __device_attach+0x207/0x330 bus_probe_device+0x1a2/0x260 device_add+0xa61/0x1ce0 usb_new_device.cold+0x463/0xf66 hub_event+0x10d5/0x3330 process_one_work+0x873/0x13e0 worker_thread+0x8b/0xd10 kthread+0x379/0x450 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 Allocated by task 1896: kasan_save_stack+0x1b/0x40 __kasan_kmalloc+0x7c/0x90 kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x19e/0x330 brcmf_setup_wiphybands+0x290/0x1430 brcmf_cfg80211_attach+0x2118/0x3fd0 brcmf_attach+0x389/0xd40 brcmf_usb_probe+0x12de/0x1690 usb_probe_interface+0x25f/0x710 really_probe+0x1be/0xa90 __driver_probe_device+0x2ab/0x460 driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 __device_attach_driver+0x18a/0x250 bus_for_each_drv+0x123/0x1a0 __device_attach+0x207/0x330 bus_probe_device+0x1a2/0x260 device_add+0xa61/0x1ce0 usb_set_configuration+0x984/0x1770 usb_generic_driver_probe+0x69/0x90 usb_probe_device+0x9c/0x220 really_probe+0x1be/0xa90 __driver_probe_device+0x2ab/0x460 driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 __device_attach_driver+0x18a/0x250 bus_for_each_drv+0x123/0x1a0 __device_attach+0x207/0x330 bus_probe_device+0x1a2/0x260 device_add+0xa61/0x1ce0 usb_new_device.cold+0x463/0xf66 hub_event+0x10d5/0x3330 process_one_work+0x873/0x13e0 worker_thread+0x8b/0xd10 kthread+0x379/0x450 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888115f24000 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-2k of size 2048 The buggy address is located 1536 bytes inside of 2048-byte region [ffff888115f24000, ffff888115f24800) Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888115f24500: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ffff888115f24580: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 >ffff888115f24600: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc ^ ffff888115f24680: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc ffff888115f24700: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc ================================================================== Crash Report from brcmf_enable_bw40_2g(): ========== ---truncated---

Technical summary

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

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

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

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

Upgrade to Linux kernel 5.4.232, 5.10.168, 5.15.93, or 6.1.11 (or later stable releases in each respective branch)

Identify your current Linux kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
Determine which major kernel series you are running (e.g., 5.4.x, 5.10.x, 5.15.x, or 6.0.x/6.1.x)
Upgrade to or beyond the minimum fixed version for your kernel series: for 5.4.x upgrade to >= 5.4.232; for 5.10.x upgrade to >= 5.10.168; for 5.15.x upgrade to >= 5.15.93; for 6.0.x/6.1.x upgrade to >= 6.1.11
For distribution-specific systems (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS), use the distribution's package manager to install the updated kernel (e.g., 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade' on Debian/Ubuntu, or 'yum update' on RHEL/CentOS)
After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the new kernel: 'sudo reboot'
Verify the new kernel version is loaded after reboot using 'uname -r'

Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver recompilation or could affect proprietary kernel modules; ensure critical hardware drivers are compatible with the target version before upgrading production systems

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

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-49740 in production — separate from our analysis above.

Notes0 Guidelines

Know something about CVE-2022-49740?

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

No notes yet

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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
No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data

At a glance

A fix existsUpgrade to 5.4.232 / 5.10.168 or later

Severity 7.1 High

Exploit likelihood EPSS, next 30 days 0.2%

Affects: Linux Kernel

Remediation

Need this fixed?

Get a fix

Estimated effortfrom ~18 hrs

ComplexityComplex

Typical engagementfrom $3,200

What a fix involves

We scope it with you and confirm a fixed quote
A specialist builds a reviewed fix
You deploy it to staging first
Optional re-test once it’s live

We specialise in CVE remediation. Send your environment and we’ll scope CVE-2022-49740 and return a fixed quote.

You’ll deal with our team directly and deploy the reviewed fix to staging first — never straight to production.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scan for this in your stack

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Practitioner notes

No notes yet

Official description

Technical summary

Affected products & versions

CVSS breakdown

Remediation

References