Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50144

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.61 / 5.18.18 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: soundwire: revisit driver bind/unbind and callbacks In the SoundWire probe, we store a pointer from the driver ops into the 'slave' structure. This can lead to kernel oopses when unbinding codec drivers, e.g. with the following sequence to remove machine driver and codec driver. /sbin/modprobe -r snd_soc_sof_sdw /sbin/modprobe -r snd_soc_rt711 The full details can be found in the BugLink below, for reference the two following examples show different cases of driver ops/callbacks being invoked after the driver .remove(). kernel: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000150 kernel: Workqueue: events cdns_update_slave_status_work [soundwire_cadence] kernel: RIP: 0010:mutex_lock+0x19/0x30 kernel: Call Trace: kernel: ? sdw_handle_slave_status+0x426/0xe00 [soundwire_bus 94ff184bf398570c3f8ff7efe9e32529f532e4ae] kernel: ? newidle_balance+0x26a/0x400 kernel: ? cdns_update_slave_status_work+0x1e9/0x200 [soundwire_cadence 1bcf98eebe5ba9833cd433323769ac923c9c6f82] kernel: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffc07654c8 kernel: Workqueue: pm pm_runtime_work kernel: RIP: 0010:sdw_bus_prep_clk_stop+0x6f/0x160 [soundwire_bus] kernel: Call Trace: kernel: <TASK> kernel: sdw_cdns_clock_stop+0xb5/0x1b0 [soundwire_cadence 1bcf98eebe5ba9833cd433323769ac923c9c6f82] kernel: intel_suspend_runtime+0x5f/0x120 [soundwire_intel aca858f7c87048d3152a4a41bb68abb9b663a1dd] kernel: ? dpm_sysfs_remove+0x60/0x60 This was not detected earlier in Intel tests since the tests first remove the parent PCI device and shut down the bus. The sequence above is a corner case which keeps the bus operational but without a driver bound. While trying to solve this kernel oopses, it became clear that the existing SoundWire bus does not deal well with the unbind case. Commit 528be501b7d4a ("soundwire: sdw_slave: add probe_complete structure and new fields") added a 'probed' status variable and a 'probe_complete' struct completion. This status is however not reset on remove and likewise the 'probe complete' is not re-initialized, so the bind/unbind/bind test cases would fail. The timeout used before the 'update_status' callback was also a bad idea in hindsight, there should really be no timing assumption as to if and when a driver is bound to a device. An initial draft was based on device_lock() and device_unlock() was tested. This proved too complicated, with deadlocks created during the suspend-resume sequences, which also use the same device_lock/unlock() as the bind/unbind sequences. On a CometLake device, a bad DSDT/BIOS caused spurious resumes and the use of device_lock() caused hangs during suspend. After multiple weeks or testing and painful reverse-engineering of deadlocks on different devices, we looked for alternatives that did not interfere with the device core. A bus notifier was used successfully to keep track of DRIVER_BOUND and DRIVER_UNBIND events. This solved the bind-unbind-bind case in tests, but it can still be defeated with a theoretical corner case where the memory is freed by a .remove while the callback is in use. The notifier only helps make sure the driver callbacks are valid, but not that the memory allocated in probe remains valid while the callbacks are invoked. This patch suggests the introduction of a new 'sdw_dev_lock' mutex protecting probe/remove and all driver callbacks. Since this mutex is 'local' to SoundWire only, it does not interfere with existing locks and does not create deadlocks. In addition, this patch removes the 'probe_complete' completion, instead we directly invoke the 'update_status' from the probe routine. That removes any sort of timing dependency and a much better support for the device/driver model, the driver could be bound before the bus started, or eons after the bus started and the hardware would be properly initialized in all cases. BugLink: https://github.com/thesofproject/linux/is ---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 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:>= 4.16, < 5.15.61>= 5.16, < 5.18.18>= 5.19, < 5.19.2

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 5.15.61 / 5.18.18 / 5.19.2 or later
Fixed in 5.15.615.18.185.19.2
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel >= 5.15.61 (for 5.15.x branch), >= 5.18.18 (for 5.18.x branch), >= 5.19.2 (for 5.19.x branch), or the latest stable kernel available from your distribution

  1. 1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. 2. Check your distribution's available kernel packages for a version >= 5.15.61, >= 5.18.18, or >= 5.19.2 (or a later stable release)
  3. 3. Upgrade the kernel package using your distribution's package manager (e.g., 'apt-get install linux-image-<version>' for Debian/Ubuntu, 'yum install kernel-<version>' for RHEL/CentOS, or 'dnf install kernel-<version>' for Fedora)
  4. 4. Update bootloader configuration if necessary (e.g., update-grub for GRUB)
  5. 5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching system utilities and drivers; ensure compatible firmware and kernel modules are available 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 $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

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