Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2022-50550
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: blk-iolatency: Fix memory leak on add_disk() failures When a gendisk is successfully initialized but add_disk() fails such as when a loop device has invalid number of minor device numbers specified, blkcg_init_disk() is called during init and then blkcg_exit_disk() during error handling. Unfortunately, iolatency gets initialized in the former but doesn't get cleaned up in the latter. This is because, in non-error cases, the cleanup is performed by del_gendisk() calling rq_qos_exit(), the assumption being that rq_qos policies, iolatency being one of them, can only be activated once the disk is fully registered and visible. That assumption is true for wbt and iocost, but not so for iolatency as it gets initialized before add_disk() is called. It is desirable to lazy-init rq_qos policies because they are optional features and add to hot path overhead once initialized - each IO has to walk all the registered rq_qos policies. So, we want to switch iolatency to lazy init too. However, that's a bigger change. As a fix for the immediate problem, let's just add an extra call to rq_qos_exit() in blkcg_exit_disk(). This is safe because duplicate calls to rq_qos_exit() become noop's.
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
>= 4.19, < 6.0.17>= 6.1, < 6.1.2CVSS 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 · scoped6.0.176.1.2
Linux Kernel 6.0.17 or 6.1.2 (whichever branch is appropriate for your deployment)
- 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
- 2. If running kernel version >= 4.19 and < 6.0.17, plan upgrade to kernel 6.0.17 or later
- 3. If running kernel version >= 6.1 and < 6.1.2, plan upgrade to kernel 6.1.2 or later
- 4. For other affected kernel branches (e.g., 5.x variants still under support), upgrade to the latest stable kernel version that includes this fix
- 5. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
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-2022-50550 — 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-2022-50550 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
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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