# CVE-2022-48659: mm/slub: fix to return errno if kmalloc() fails

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic by exhausting memory during F2FS filesystem mounting, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48659, GHSA-rvvv-6c8w-v73w, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48659

## What is CVE-2022-48659?

CVE-2022-48659 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Apr 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:

mm/slub: fix to return errno if kmalloc() fails

In create_unique_id(), kmalloc(, GFP_KERNEL) can fail due to
out-of-memory, if it fails, return errno correctly rather than
triggering panic via BUG_ON();

kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:5893!
Internal error: Oops - BUG: 0 [#1] PREEMPT SMP

Call trace:
 sysfs_slab_add+0x258/0x260 mm/slub.c:5973
 __kmem_cache_create+0x60/0x118 mm/slub.c:4899
 create_cache mm/slab_common.c:229 [inline]
 kmem_cache_create_usercopy+0x19c/0x31c mm/slab_common.c:335
 kmem_cache_create+0x1c/0x28 mm/slab_common.c:390
 f2fs_kmem_cache_create fs/f2fs/f2fs.h:2766 [inline]
 f2fs_init_xattr_caches+0x78/0xb4 fs/f2fs/xattr.c:808
 f2fs_fill_super+0x1050/0x1e0c fs/f2fs/super.c:4149
 mount_bdev+0x1b8/0x210 fs/super.c:1400
 f2fs_mount+0x44/0x58 fs/f2fs/super.c:4512
 legacy_get_tree+0x30/0x74 fs/fs_context.c:610
 vfs_get_tree+0x40/0x140 fs/super.c:1530
 do_new_mount+0x1dc/0x4e4 fs/namespace.c:3040
 path_mount+0x358/0x914 fs/namespace.c:3370
 do_mount fs/namespace.c:3383 [inline]
 __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3591 [inline]
 __se_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3568 [inline]
 __arm64_sys_mount+0x2f8/0x408 fs/namespace.c:3568

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48659?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48659?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48659 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48659 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-2022-48659 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48659 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Apr 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-2022-48659 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-2022-48659/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48659/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48659
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48659
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48659

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48659/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.