Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2022-50370
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: i2c: designware: Fix handling of real but unexpected device interrupts Commit c7b79a752871 ("mfd: intel-lpss: Add Intel Alder Lake PCH-S PCI IDs") caused a regression on certain Gigabyte motherboards for Intel Alder Lake-S where system crashes to NULL pointer dereference in i2c_dw_xfer_msg() when system resumes from S3 sleep state ("deep"). I was able to debug the issue on Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ELITE and made following notes: - Issue happens when resuming from S3 but not when resuming from "s2idle" - PCI device 00:15.0 == i2c_designware.0 is already in D0 state when system enters into pci_pm_resume_noirq() while all other i2c_designware PCI devices are in D3. Devices were runtime suspended and in D3 prior entering into suspend - Interrupt comes after pci_pm_resume_noirq() when device interrupts are re-enabled - According to register dump the interrupt really comes from the i2c_designware.0. Controller is enabled, I2C target address register points to a one detectable I2C device address 0x60 and the DW_IC_RAW_INTR_STAT register START_DET, STOP_DET, ACTIVITY and TX_EMPTY bits are set indicating completed I2C transaction. My guess is that the firmware uses this controller to communicate with an on-board I2C device during resume but does not disable the controller before giving control to an operating system. I was told the UEFI update fixes this but never the less it revealed the driver is not ready to handle TX_EMPTY (or RX_FULL) interrupt when device is supposed to be idle and state variables are not set (especially the dev->msgs pointer which may point to NULL or stale old data). Introduce a new software status flag STATUS_ACTIVE indicating when the controller is active in driver point of view. Now treat all interrupts that occur when is not set as unexpected and mask all interrupts from the controller.
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
>= 5.12, < 5.15.75>= 5.16, < 5.19.17>= 6.0, < 6.0.3CVSS 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 · scoped5.15.755.19.176.0.3
Kernel 5.15.75+, 5.19.17+, or 6.0.3+
- Upgrade Linux kernel to version 5.15.75 or later if using the 5.15.y kernel branch
- OR upgrade Linux kernel to version 5.19.17 or later if using the 5.19.y kernel branch
- OR upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.0.3 or later if using the 6.0.y or later kernel branch
- After upgrading, verify the i2c_designware driver is loaded and functioning correctly
- Test system resume from S3 (deep sleep) to confirm the NULL pointer dereference no longer occurs
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-50370 — 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-2022-50370 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data