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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-50553

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.229 / 5.10.163 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: tracing/hist: Fix out-of-bound write on 'action_data.var_ref_idx' When generate a synthetic event with many params and then create a trace action for it [1], kernel panic happened [2]. It is because that in trace_action_create() 'data->n_params' is up to SYNTH_FIELDS_MAX (current value is 64), and array 'data->var_ref_idx' keeps indices into array 'hist_data->var_refs' for each synthetic event param, but the length of 'data->var_ref_idx' is TRACING_MAP_VARS_MAX (current value is 16), so out-of-bound write happened when 'data->n_params' more than 16. In this case, 'data->match_data.event' is overwritten and eventually cause the panic. To solve the issue, adjust the length of 'data->var_ref_idx' to be SYNTH_FIELDS_MAX and add sanity checks to avoid out-of-bound write. [1] # cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ # echo "my_synth_event int v1; int v2; int v3; int v4; int v5; int v6;\ int v7; int v8; int v9; int v10; int v11; int v12; int v13; int v14;\ int v15; int v16; int v17; int v18; int v19; int v20; int v21; int v22;\ int v23; int v24; int v25; int v26; int v27; int v28; int v29; int v30;\ int v31; int v32; int v33; int v34; int v35; int v36; int v37; int v38;\ int v39; int v40; int v41; int v42; int v43; int v44; int v45; int v46;\ int v47; int v48; int v49; int v50; int v51; int v52; int v53; int v54;\ int v55; int v56; int v57; int v58; int v59; int v60; int v61; int v62;\ int v63" >> synthetic_events # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs if comm=="bash"' >> \ events/sched/sched_waking/trigger # echo "hist:keys=next_pid:onmatch(sched.sched_waking).my_synth_event(\ pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\ pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\ pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\ pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid)" >> events/sched/sched_switch/trigger [2] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffff91c900000000 PGD 61001067 P4D 61001067 PUD 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 2 PID: 322 Comm: bash Tainted: G W 6.1.0-rc8+ #229 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:strcmp+0xc/0x30 Code: 75 f7 31 d2 44 0f b6 04 16 44 88 04 11 48 83 c2 01 45 84 c0 75 ee c3 cc cc cc cc 0f 1f 00 31 c0 eb 08 48 83 c0 01 84 d2 74 13 <0f> b6 14 07 3a 14 06 74 ef 19 c0 83 c8 01 c3 cc cc cc cc 31 c3 RSP: 0018:ffff9b3b00f53c48 EFLAGS: 00000246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffffba958a68 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000010 RSI: ffff91c943d33a90 RDI: ffff91c900000000 RBP: ffff91c900000000 R08: 00000018d604b529 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffff91c9483eddb1 R11: ffff91ca483eddab R12: ffff91c946171580 R13: ffff91c9479f0538 R14: ffff91c9457c2848 R15: ffff91c9479f0538 FS: 00007f1d1cfbe740(0000) GS:ffff91c9bdc80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffff91c900000000 CR3: 0000000006316000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 Call Trace: <TASK> __find_event_file+0x55/0x90 action_create+0x76c/0x1060 event_hist_trigger_parse+0x146d/0x2060 ? event_trigger_write+0x31/0xd0 trigger_process_regex+0xbb/0x110 event_trigger_write+0x6b/0xd0 vfs_write+0xc8/0x3e0 ? alloc_fd+0xc0/0x160 ? preempt_count_add+0x4d/0xa0 ? preempt_count_add+0x70/0xa0 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f1d1d0cf077 Code: 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb bb 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74 RSP: 002b:00007ffcebb0e568 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000143 RCX: 00007f1d1d0cf077 RDX: 0000000000000143 RSI: 00005639265aa7e0 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 00005639265aa7e0 R08: 000000000000000a R09: 0000000000000142 R ---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-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write 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:>= 5.4.19, < 5.4.229>= 5.5.6, < 5.10.163>= 5.11, < 5.15.87>= 5.16, < 6.0.18>= 6.1, < 6.1.4

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 5.4.229 / 5.10.163 / 5.15.87 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2295.10.1635.15.87
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

5.4.229 or 5.10.163 or 5.15.87 or 6.0.18 (depending on which branch is in use)

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Check if the kernel version falls within the affected range: >= 5.4.19 and < 5.4.229, >= 5.5.6 and < 5.10.163, >= 5.11 and < 5.15.87, or >= 5.16 and < 6.0.18
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to one of the fixed versions: 5.4.229, 5.10.163, 5.15.87, or 6.0.18 or later
  4. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r`
Caveat Upgrading kernel versions may require matching system utilities and could introduce compatibility changes with custom 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 $2,850. 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-2022-50553 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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