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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50266

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.5 / 4.10 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: kprobes: Fix check for probe enabled in kill_kprobe() In kill_kprobe(), the check whether disarm_kprobe_ftrace() needs to be called always fails. This is because before that we set the KPROBE_FLAG_GONE flag for kprobe so that "!kprobe_disabled(p)" is always false. The disarm_kprobe_ftrace() call introduced by commit: 0cb2f1372baa ("kprobes: Fix NULL pointer dereference at kprobe_ftrace_handler") to fix the NULL pointer reference problem. When the probe is enabled, if we do not disarm it, this problem still exists. Fix it by putting the probe enabled check before setting the KPROBE_FLAG_GONE flag.

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:>= 4.4.238, < 4.5>= 4.9.238, < 4.10>= 4.14.200, < 4.15>= 4.19.149, < 4.20>= 5.4.69, < 5.5>= 5.8.13, < 5.9>= 5.9.1, < 6.0.16>= 6.1, < 6.1.2= 5.9

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 4.5 / 4.10 / 4.15 or later
Fixed in 4.54.104.15
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 4.5+ (4.4.x branch), 4.10+ (4.9.x branch), 4.15+ (4.14.x branch), or 4.20+ (4.19.x branch) - whichever is the next stable release in your current branch

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the current version is one of the affected versions: 4.4.238 to <4.5, 4.9.238 to <4.10, 4.14.200 to <4.15, or 4.19.149 to <4.20
  3. 3. If affected, upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix from commit 0c76ef3f26d5
  4. 4. For 4.4.x branch, upgrade to kernel 4.5 or later
  5. 5. For 4.9.x branch, upgrade to kernel 4.10 or later
  6. 6. For 4.14.x branch, upgrade to kernel 4.15 or later
  7. 7. For 4.19.x branch, upgrade to kernel 4.20 or later
  8. 8. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require recompilation of kernel modules; ensure custom modules are compatible with the new kernel version

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

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-50266 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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