CVE-2022-50054
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: iavf: Fix NULL pointer dereference in iavf_get_link_ksettings Fix possible NULL pointer dereference, due to freeing of adapter->vf_res in iavf_init_get_resources. Previous commit introduced a regression, where receiving IAVF_ERR_ADMIN_QUEUE_NO_WORK from iavf_get_vf_config would free adapter->vf_res. However, netdev is still registered, so ethtool_ops can be called. Calling iavf_get_link_ksettings with no vf_res, will result with: [ 9385.242676] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [ 9385.242683] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 9385.242686] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 9385.242690] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 9385.242696] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC PTI [ 9385.242701] CPU: 6 PID: 3217 Comm: pmdalinux Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S E 5.18.0-04958-ga54ce3703613-dirty #1 [ 9385.242708] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R730/0WCJNT, BIOS 2.11.0 11/02/2019 [ 9385.242710] RIP: 0010:iavf_get_link_ksettings+0x29/0xd0 [iavf] [ 9385.242745] Code: 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 b8 01 ef ff ff 48 c7 46 30 00 00 00 00 48 c7 46 38 00 00 00 00 c6 46 0b 00 66 89 46 08 48 8b 87 68 0e 00 00 <f6> 40 08 80 75 50 8b 87 5c 0e 00 00 83 f8 08 74 7a 76 1d 83 f8 20 [ 9385.242749] RSP: 0018:ffffc0560ec7fbd0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 9385.242755] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffc0560ec7fc08 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 9385.242759] RDX: ffffffffc0ad4550 RSI: ffffc0560ec7fc08 RDI: ffffa0fc66674000 [ 9385.242762] RBP: 00007ffd1fb2bf50 R08: b6a2d54b892363ee R09: ffffa101dc14fb00 [ 9385.242765] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000004 R12: ffffa0fc66674000 [ 9385.242768] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffffa0fc66674000 R15: 00000000ffffffa1 [ 9385.242771] FS: 00007f93711a2980(0000) GS:ffffa0fad72c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 9385.242775] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 9385.242778] CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 0000000a8e61c003 CR4: 00000000003706e0 [ 9385.242781] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 9385.242784] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 9385.242787] Call Trace: [ 9385.242791] <TASK> [ 9385.242793] ethtool_get_settings+0x71/0x1a0 [ 9385.242814] __dev_ethtool+0x426/0x2f40 [ 9385.242823] ? slab_post_alloc_hook+0x4f/0x280 [ 9385.242836] ? kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x15d/0x2f0 [ 9385.242841] ? dev_ethtool+0x59/0x170 [ 9385.242848] dev_ethtool+0xa7/0x170 [ 9385.242856] dev_ioctl+0xc3/0x520 [ 9385.242866] sock_do_ioctl+0xa0/0xe0 [ 9385.242877] sock_ioctl+0x22f/0x320 [ 9385.242885] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0 [ 9385.242896] do_syscall_64+0x3a/0x80 [ 9385.242904] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 [ 9385.242918] RIP: 0033:0x7f93702396db [ 9385.242923] Code: 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d ad 57 38 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 f3 0f 1e fa b8 10 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d 7d 57 38 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 [ 9385.242927] RSP: 002b:00007ffd1fb2bf18 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 [ 9385.242932] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000055671b1d2fe0 RCX: 00007f93702396db [ 9385.242935] RDX: 00007ffd1fb2bf20 RSI: 0000000000008946 RDI: 0000000000000007 [ 9385.242937] RBP: 00007ffd1fb2bf20 R08: 0000000000000003 R09: 0030763066307330 [ 9385.242940] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007ffd1fb2bf80 [ 9385.242942] R13: 0000000000000007 R14: 0000556719f6de90 R15: 00007ffd1fb2c1b0 [ 9385.242948] </TASK> [ 9385.242949] Modules linked in: iavf(E) xt_CHECKSUM xt_MASQUERADE xt_conntrack ipt_REJECT nft_compat nf_nat_tftp nft_objref nf_conntrack_tftp bridge stp llc nft_fib_inet nft_fib_ipv4 nft_fib_ipv6 nft_fib nft_reject_inet nf_reject_ipv4 nf_reject_ipv6 nft_reject nft_ct nft_chain_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 ip_set nf_tables rfkill nfnetlink vfat fat irdma ib_uverbs ib_core intel_rapl_msr intel_rapl_common sb_edac x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp coretem ---truncated---
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>= 5.17, < 5.19.4= 6.0CVSS 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 · scoped5.19.4
Kernel 5.19.4+ or 6.0.1+ or 6.1+ (any stable kernel newer than the affected versions)
- Check current kernel version using `uname -r`
- Identify the appropriate fixed kernel version for your distribution (5.19.4 or later for 5.x branch, or 6.0.1 or later for 6.0.x branch, or 6.1+ for latest stable)
- Apply the kernel upgrade through your distribution's package manager (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>` for Debian/Ubuntu, or `yum update kernel` for RHEL/CentOS)
- Reboot the system to load the new kernel using `systemctl reboot`
- Verify the new kernel is running with `uname -r` and confirm the iavf driver loads without errors
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-2022-50054 — 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-2022-50054 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
No notes yet
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