Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50335

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.86 / 6.0.16 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: 9p: set req refcount to zero to avoid uninitialized usage When a new request is allocated, the refcount will be zero if it is reused, but if the request is newly allocated from slab, it is not fully initialized before being added to idr. If the p9_read_work got a response before the refcount initiated. It will use a uninitialized req, which will result in a bad request data struct. Here is the logs from syzbot. Corrupted memory at 0xffff88807eade00b [ 0xff 0x07 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 . . . . . . . . ] (in kfence-#110): p9_fcall_fini net/9p/client.c:248 [inline] p9_req_put net/9p/client.c:396 [inline] p9_req_put+0x208/0x250 net/9p/client.c:390 p9_client_walk+0x247/0x540 net/9p/client.c:1165 clone_fid fs/9p/fid.h:21 [inline] v9fs_fid_xattr_set+0xe4/0x2b0 fs/9p/xattr.c:118 v9fs_xattr_set fs/9p/xattr.c:100 [inline] v9fs_xattr_handler_set+0x6f/0x120 fs/9p/xattr.c:159 __vfs_setxattr+0x119/0x180 fs/xattr.c:182 __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x129/0x5f0 fs/xattr.c:216 __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x1d3/0x260 fs/xattr.c:277 vfs_setxattr+0x143/0x340 fs/xattr.c:309 setxattr+0x146/0x160 fs/xattr.c:617 path_setxattr+0x197/0x1c0 fs/xattr.c:636 __do_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:652 [inline] __se_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:648 [inline] __ia32_sys_setxattr+0xc0/0x160 fs/xattr.c:648 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline] __do_fast_syscall_32+0x65/0xf0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178 do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203 entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82 Below is a similar scenario, the scenario in the syzbot log looks more complicated than this one, but this patch can fix it. T21124 p9_read_work ======================== second trans ================================= p9_client_walk p9_client_rpc p9_client_prepare_req p9_tag_alloc req = kmem_cache_alloc(p9_req_cache, GFP_NOFS); tag = idr_alloc << preempted >> req->tc.tag = tag; /* req->[refcount/tag] == uninitialized */ m->rreq = p9_tag_lookup(m->client, m->rc.tag); /* increments uninitalized refcount */ refcount_set(&req->refcount, 2); /* cb drops one ref */ p9_client_cb(req) /* reader thread drops its ref: request is incorrectly freed */ p9_req_put(req) /* use after free and ref underflow */ p9_req_put(req) To fix it, we can initialize the refcount to zero before add to idr.

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-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource 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:>= 4.19.57, < 5.15.86>= 5.16, < 6.0.16>= 6.1, < 6.1.2

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 5.15.86 / 6.0.16 / 6.1.2 or later
Fixed in 5.15.866.0.166.1.2
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

5.15.86, 6.0.16, or 6.1.2 (depending on your current major version branch)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which major kernel branch your current version belongs to (e.g., 5.15.x, 6.0.x, or 6.1.x)
  3. For systems running kernel >= 4.19.57 and < 5.15.86: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.86 or later
  4. For systems running kernel >= 5.16 and < 6.0.16: upgrade to kernel version 6.0.16 or later
  5. For systems running kernel >= 6.1 and < 6.1.2: upgrade to kernel version 6.1.2 or later
  6. Reboot the system to apply the new kernel
  7. Verify the fix is applied by checking 'uname -r' shows a version >= the fixed version for your branch
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require recompilation of out-of-tree modules; ensure third-party drivers/modules are compatible with the target kernel version 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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2022-50335 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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