# CVE-2022-29901: Arbitrary Memory Disclosure through CPU Side-Channel Attacks (Retbleed)

> Unprivileged attackers can exploit Retbleed side-channel flaws in Intel CPUs to leak arbitrary kernel memory data.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Jul 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-29901, GHSA-55c8-6r36-9g85, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-29901

## What is CVE-2022-29901?

CVE-2022-29901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 12 Jul 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Intel microprocessor generations 6 to 8 are affected by a new Spectre variant that is able to bypass their retpoline mitigation in the kernel to leak arbitrary data. An attacker with unprivileged user access can hijack return instructions to achieve arbitrary speculative code execution under certain microarchitecture-dependent conditions.

Weakness: CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere), CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-29901?

It affects 129 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Intel Core I3-6100 Firmware, Intel Core I3-6100e Firmware, Intel Core I3-6100h Firmware, Intel Core I3-6100t Firmware, Intel Core I3-6100te Firmware, Intel Core I3-6100u Firmware, Intel Core I3-6102e Firmware, Intel Core I3-6110u Firmware, Intel Core I3-6120 Firmware, Intel Core I3-6120t Firmware, Intel Core I3-6167u Firmware, Intel Core I3-6300 Firmware, Intel Core I3-6300t Firmware, Intel Core I3-6320 Firmware, Intel Core I3-6320t Firmware, Intel Core I3-8000 Firmware, Intel Core I3-8000t Firmware, Intel Core I3-8020 Firmware and 109 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-29901?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-29901 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-29901 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-29901 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-29901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 12 Jul 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-2022-29901 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2022-29901/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-29901/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-29901
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-29901
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-29901

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-29901/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.