dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-49891

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.154 / 5.15.78 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: tracing: kprobe: Fix memory leak in test_gen_kprobe/kretprobe_cmd() test_gen_kprobe_cmd() only free buf in fail path, hence buf will leak when there is no failure. Move kfree(buf) from fail path to common path to prevent the memleak. The same reason and solution in test_gen_kretprobe_cmd(). unreferenced object 0xffff888143b14000 (size 2048): comm "insmod", pid 52490, jiffies 4301890980 (age 40.553s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 70 3a 6b 70 72 6f 62 65 73 2f 67 65 6e 5f 6b 70 p:kprobes/gen_kp 72 6f 62 65 5f 74 65 73 74 20 64 6f 5f 73 79 73 robe_test do_sys backtrace: [<000000006d7b836b>] kmalloc_trace+0x27/0xa0 [<0000000009528b5b>] 0xffffffffa059006f [<000000008408b580>] do_one_initcall+0x87/0x2a0 [<00000000c4980a7e>] do_init_module+0xdf/0x320 [<00000000d775aad0>] load_module+0x3006/0x3390 [<00000000e9a74b80>] __do_sys_finit_module+0x113/0x1b0 [<000000003726480d>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 [<000000003441e93b>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

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-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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:>= 5.6, < 5.10.154>= 5.11, < 5.15.78>= 5.16, < 6.0.8= 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 5.10.154 / 5.15.78 / 6.0.8 or later
Fixed in 5.10.1545.15.786.0.8
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel 5.10.154, 5.15.78, 6.0.8, or 6.2+ (depending on which branch you are on)

  1. Identify the current kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.10.154 or higher if using the 5.10.x branch
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.15.78 or higher if using the 5.15.x branch
  4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.0.8 or higher if using the 6.0.x branch
  5. Upgrade to Linux kernel 6.2 or later if using the 6.1.x branch
  6. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure compatibility with custom drivers/modules and test in non-production 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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-49891 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-49891 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