Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2022-50369
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: drm/vkms: Fix null-ptr-deref in vkms_release() A null-ptr-deref is triggered when it tries to destroy the workqueue in vkms->output.composer_workq in vkms_release(). KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000118-0x000000000000011f] CPU: 5 PID: 17193 Comm: modprobe Not tainted 6.0.0-11331-gd465bff130bf #24 RIP: 0010:destroy_workqueue+0x2f/0x710 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ? vkms_config_debugfs_init+0x50/0x50 [vkms] __devm_drm_dev_alloc+0x15a/0x1c0 [drm] vkms_init+0x245/0x1000 [vkms] do_one_initcall+0xd0/0x4f0 do_init_module+0x1a4/0x680 load_module+0x6249/0x7110 __do_sys_finit_module+0x140/0x200 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 The reason is that an OOM happened which triggers the destroy of the workqueue, however, the workqueue is alloced in the later process, thus a null-ptr-deref happened. A simple call graph is shown as below: vkms_init() vkms_create() devm_drm_dev_alloc() __devm_drm_dev_alloc() devm_drm_dev_init() devm_add_action_or_reset() devm_add_action() # an error happened devm_drm_dev_init_release() drm_dev_put() kref_put() drm_dev_release() vkms_release() destroy_workqueue() # null-ptr-deref happened vkms_modeset_init() vkms_output_init() vkms_crtc_init() # where the workqueue get allocated Fix this by checking if composer_workq is NULL before passing it to the destroy_workqueue() in vkms_release().
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
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 4.20, < 5.10.173>= 5.11, < 5.15.99>= 5.16, < 6.1.16>= 6.2, < 6.2.3CVSS 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 · scoped5.10.1735.15.996.1.16
Linux kernel >= 5.10.173 (for 5.10.x), >= 5.15.99 (for 5.15.x), >= 6.1.16 (for 6.1.x), or >= 6.2.3 (for 6.2.x) depending on your branch
- Identify your current kernel version using `uname -r`
- Determine which version branch you are running (e.g., 5.10.x, 5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.2.x)
- Upgrade to the first fixed release in your version branch: for 5.10.x upgrade to >= 5.10.173, for 5.15.x upgrade to >= 5.15.99, for 6.1.x upgrade to >= 6.1.16, or for 6.2.x upgrade to >= 6.2.3
- Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r`
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-2022-50369 — 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-2022-50369 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
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