# CVE-2022-48629: crypto: qcom-rng - ensure buffer for generate is completely filled

> The Qualcomm RNG driver in the Linux kernel may return partially zeroed buffers, compromising random number quality for cryptographic operations.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48629, GHSA-2689-83hc-5vvp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48629

## What is CVE-2022-48629?

CVE-2022-48629 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

crypto: qcom-rng - ensure buffer for generate is completely filled

The generate function in struct rng_alg expects that the destination
buffer is completely filled if the function returns 0. qcom_rng_read()
can run into a situation where the buffer is partially filled with
randomness and the remaining part of the buffer is zeroed since
qcom_rng_generate() doesn't check the return value. This issue can
be reproduced by running the following from libkcapi:

    kcapi-rng -b 9000000 > OUTFILE

The generated OUTFILE will have three huge sections that contain all
zeros, and this is caused by the code where the test
'val & PRNG_STATUS_DATA_AVAIL' fails.

Let's fix this issue by ensuring that qcom_rng_read() always returns
with a full buffer if the function returns success. Let's also have
qcom_rng_generate() return the correct value.

Here's some statistics from the ent project
(https://www.fourmilab.ch/random/) that shows information about the
quality of the generated numbers:

    $ ent -c qcom-random-before
    Value Char Occurrences Fraction
      0           606748   0.067416
      1            33104   0.003678
      2            33001   0.003667
    ...
    253   �        32883   0.003654
    254   �        33035   0.003671
    255   �        33239   0.003693

    Total:       9000000   1.000000

    Entropy = 7.811590 bits per byte.

    Optimum compression would reduce the size
    of this 9000000 byte file by 2 percent.

    Chi square distribution for 9000000 samples is 9329962.81, and
    randomly would exceed this value less than 0.01 percent of the
    times.

    Arithmetic mean value of data bytes is 119.3731 (127.5 = random).
    Monte Carlo value for Pi is 3.197293333 (error 1.77 percent).
    Serial correlation coefficient is 0.159130 (totally uncorrelated =
    0.0).

Without this patch, the results of the chi-square test is 0.01%, and
the numbers are certainly not random according to ent's project page.
The results improve with this patch:

    $ ent -c qcom-random-after
    Value Char Occurrences Fraction
      0            35432   0.003937
      1            35127   0.003903
      2            35424   0.003936
    ...
    253   �        35201   0.003911
    254   �        34835   0.003871
    255   �        35368   0.003930

    Total:       9000000   1.000000

    Entropy = 7.999979 bits per byte.

    Optimum compression would reduce the size
    of this 9000000 byte file by 0 percent.

    Chi square distribution for 9000000 samples is 258.77, and randomly
    would exceed this value 42.24 percent of the times.

    Arithmetic mean value of data bytes is 127.5006 (127.5 = random).
    Monte Carlo value for Pi is 3.141277333 (error 0.01 percent).
    Serial correlation coefficient is 0.000468 (totally uncorrelated =
    0.0).

This change was tested on a Nexus 5 phone (msm8974 SoC).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48629?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48629?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48629 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48629 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-48629 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48629 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 Mar 2024. 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-2022-48629 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2022-48629/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48629/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48629
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48629
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48629

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48629/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
