Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50396

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.308 / 4.19.276 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: net: sched: fix memory leak in tcindex_set_parms Syzkaller reports a memory leak as follows: ==================================== BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810c287f00 (size 256): comm "syz-executor105", pid 3600, jiffies 4294943292 (age 12.990s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<ffffffff814cf9f0>] kmalloc_trace+0x20/0x90 mm/slab_common.c:1046 [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:576 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kmalloc_array include/linux/slab.h:627 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kcalloc include/linux/slab.h:659 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] tcf_exts_init include/net/pkt_cls.h:250 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] tcindex_set_parms+0xa7/0xbe0 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:342 [<ffffffff839caa1f>] tcindex_change+0xdf/0x120 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:553 [<ffffffff8394db62>] tc_new_tfilter+0x4f2/0x1100 net/sched/cls_api.c:2147 [<ffffffff8389e91c>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x4dc/0x5d0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6082 [<ffffffff839eba67>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x87/0x1d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2540 [<ffffffff839eab87>] netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] [<ffffffff839eab87>] netlink_unicast+0x397/0x4c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 [<ffffffff839eb046>] netlink_sendmsg+0x396/0x710 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 [<ffffffff8383e796>] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] [<ffffffff8383e796>] sock_sendmsg+0x56/0x80 net/socket.c:734 [<ffffffff8383eb08>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x178/0x410 net/socket.c:2482 [<ffffffff83843678>] ___sys_sendmsg+0xa8/0x110 net/socket.c:2536 [<ffffffff838439c5>] __sys_sendmmsg+0x105/0x330 net/socket.c:2622 [<ffffffff83843c14>] __do_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2651 [inline] [<ffffffff83843c14>] __se_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2648 [inline] [<ffffffff83843c14>] __x64_sys_sendmmsg+0x24/0x30 net/socket.c:2648 [<ffffffff84605fd5>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff84605fd5>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff84800087>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd ==================================== Kernel uses tcindex_change() to change an existing filter properties. Yet the problem is that, during the process of changing, if `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, then kernel uses tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly allocate filter results, uses tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, without destroying its tcf_exts structure, which triggers the above memory leak. To be more specific, there are only two source for the `old_r`, according to the tcindex_lookup(). `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, or `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`. * If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, kernel uses tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly allocate the filter results. Then `r` is assigned with `cp->perfect + handle`, which is newly allocated. So condition `old_r && old_r != r` is true in this situation, and kernel uses tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, without destroying its tcf_exts structure * If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`, then `p->perfect` is NULL according to the tcindex_lookup(). Considering that `cp->h` is directly copied from `p->h` and `p->perfect` is NULL, `r` is assigned with `tcindex_lookup(cp, handle)`, whose value should be the same as `old_r`, so condition `old_r && old_r != r` is false in this situation, kernel ignores using tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result. So only when `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect` does kernel use tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, which triggers the above memory leak. Considering that there already exists a tc_filter_wq workqueue to destroy the old tcindex_d ---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-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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:>= 4.9, < 4.14.308>= 4.15, < 4.19.276>= 4.20, < 5.4.235>= 5.5, < 5.10.173>= 5.11, < 5.15.100>= 5.16, < 6.0.19>= 6.1, < 6.1.18>= 6.2, < 6.2.5

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 4.14.308 / 4.19.276 / 5.4.235 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3084.19.2765.4.235
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 4.14.308+ / 4.19.276+ / 5.4.235+ / 5.10.173+ (whichever series is applicable)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Check which kernel version branch your current version belongs to (4.14.x, 4.19.x, 5.4.x, or 5.5.x)
  3. If running 4.9 <= version < 4.14.308: upgrade to kernel 4.14.308 or later
  4. If running 4.15 <= version < 4.19.276: upgrade to kernel 4.19.276 or later
  5. If running 4.20 <= version < 5.4.235: upgrade to kernel 5.4.235 or later
  6. If running 5.5 <= version < 5.10.173: upgrade to kernel 5.10.173 or later
  7. Alternatively, apply vendor patch commit 01d0d2b8b4e3cf2110baba9371c0c3d04ad5c77b to the kernel source and rebuild
  8. Reboot into the updated kernel to apply the fix
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility changes with third-party kernel modules

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

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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-2022-50396 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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