Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50421

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.19.17 / 6.0.3 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: rpmsg: char: Avoid double destroy of default endpoint The rpmsg_dev_remove() in rpmsg_core is the place for releasing this default endpoint. So need to avoid destroying the default endpoint in rpmsg_chrdev_eptdev_destroy(), this should be the same as rpmsg_eptdev_release(). Otherwise there will be double destroy issue that ept->refcount report warning: refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. Call trace: refcount_warn_saturate+0xf8/0x150 virtio_rpmsg_destroy_ept+0xd4/0xec rpmsg_dev_remove+0x60/0x70 The issue can be reproduced by stopping remoteproc before closing the /dev/rpmsgX.

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-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free 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:>= 5.18, < 5.19.17>= 6.0, < 6.0.3

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 5.19.17 / 6.0.3 or later
Fixed in 5.19.176.0.3
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.19.17 or later, or 6.0.3 or later (6.1.x, 6.2.x, etc. include the fix)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the current version is affected: >= 5.18 and < 5.19.17, OR >= 6.0 and < 6.0.3
  3. 3. Back up the current kernel and relevant system configurations
  4. 4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.19.17 or later, OR version 6.0.3 or later
  5. 5. For embedded systems using kernel.org sources, apply the specific commit 3f20ef7a845c2c8d7ec82ecffa20d95cab5ecfeb to the affected kernel tree
  6. 6. Rebuild the kernel with the fix applied
  7. 7. Reboot the system into the new kernel
  8. 8. Verify the fix by checking that the refcount underflow warning no longer appears when stopping remoteproc before closing /dev/rpmsgX devices
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding out-of-tree kernel modules; ensure driver compatibility with the new kernel version before production deployment

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 $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-50421 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-50421 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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