Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2022-50400
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: staging: greybus: audio_helper: remove unused and wrong debugfs usage In the greybus audio_helper code, the debugfs file for the dapm has the potential to be removed and memory will be leaked. There is also the very real potential for this code to remove ALL debugfs entries from the system, and it seems like this is what will really happen if this code ever runs. This all is very wrong as the greybus audio driver did not create this debugfs file, the sound core did and controls the lifespan of it. So remove all of the debugfs logic from the audio_helper code as there's no way it could be correct. If this really is needed, it can come back with a fixup for the incorrect usage of the debugfs_lookup() call which is what caused this to be noticed at all.
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 analysisAllocated 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
< 5.10.150>= 5.11, < 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 · scoped5.10.1505.15.755.19.17
5.10.150, 5.15.75, 5.19.17, or 6.0.3 (or later stable kernel versions)
- Identify the greybus audio_helper.c file in the kernel source tree (drivers/staging/greybus/audio_helper.c)
- Review the fix commit at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4dab0d27a4211a27135a6899d6c737e6e0759a11 which removes the problematic debugfs code
- Apply the patch that removes the debugfs_remove() call and associated debugfs creation/lookup code for the dapm debugfs file
- Ensure the patch removes only the greybus-specific debugfs code and does not affect the sound core's debugfs file management
- Rebuild the kernel with the patched code
- The memory leak occurs because debugfs_remove() is called on a file (dapm) that was created by the sound core, not by greybus - the fix removes this incorrect debugfs usage entirely
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-2022-50400 — 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-2022-50400 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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