# CVE-2022-21504: Use after free in Oracle Linux

> A local attacker can trigger a use-after-free in the UEK6 kernel, causing a denial of service by operating on a freed socket.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 24 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j35v-hq2g-vwqc

## What is CVE-2022-21504?

CVE-2022-21504 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Oracle Linux, published on 14 Jun 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The code in UEK6 U3 was missing an appropiate file descriptor count to be missing. This resulted in a use count error that allowed a file descriptor to a socket to be closed and freed while it was still in use by another portion of the kernel. An attack with local access can operate on the socket, and cause a denial of service. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.5 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-21504?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Oracle Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-21504?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-21504 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-21504 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21504 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Oracle Linux

- [CVE-2015-5287](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5287/): Red Hat Automatic Bug Reporting Tool Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-5408](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5408/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1714](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1714/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2015-3812](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3812/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2015-2328](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2328/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-21504 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-21504 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Oracle Linux, published on 14 Jun 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21504 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Oracle Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21504/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21504/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-21504
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-21504
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-21504

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21504/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.