# CVE-2022-48688: i40e: Fix kernel crash during module removal > A null pointer dereference in the i40e network driver causes a kernel crash during module removal after specific offline tests. - **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:** 3 May 2024 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48688, GHSA-xc34-72xf-5qrx, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48688 ## What is CVE-2022-48688? CVE-2022-48688 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 May 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: i40e: Fix kernel crash during module removal The driver incorrectly frees client instance and subsequent i40e module removal leads to kernel crash. Reproducer: 1. Do ethtool offline test followed immediately by another one host# ethtool -t eth0 offline; ethtool -t eth0 offline 2. Remove recursively irdma module that also removes i40e module host# modprobe -r irdma Result: [ 8675.035651] i40e 0000:3d:00.0 eno1: offline testing starting [ 8675.193774] i40e 0000:3d:00.0 eno1: testing finished [ 8675.201316] i40e 0000:3d:00.0 eno1: offline testing starting [ 8675.358921] i40e 0000:3d:00.0 eno1: testing finished [ 8675.496921] i40e 0000:3d:00.0: IRDMA hardware initialization FAILED init_state=2 status=-110 [ 8686.188955] i40e 0000:3d:00.1: i40e_ptp_stop: removed PHC on eno2 [ 8686.943890] i40e 0000:3d:00.1: Deleted LAN device PF1 bus=0x3d dev=0x00 func=0x01 [ 8686.952669] i40e 0000:3d:00.0: i40e_ptp_stop: removed PHC on eno1 [ 8687.761787] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000030 [ 8687.768755] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 8687.773895] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 8687.779034] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 8687.781575] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 8687.785935] CPU: 51 PID: 172891 Comm: rmmod Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W I 5.19.0+ #2 [ 8687.794800] Hardware name: Intel Corporation S2600WFD/S2600WFD, BIOS SE5C620.86B.0X.02.0001.051420190324 05/14/2019 [ 8687.805222] RIP: 0010:i40e_lan_del_device+0x13/0xb0 [i40e] [ 8687.810719] Code: d4 84 c0 0f 84 b8 25 01 00 e9 9c 25 01 00 41 bc f4 ff ff ff eb 91 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 54 55 53 48 8b 87 58 08 00 00 48 89 fb <48> 8b 68 30 48 89 ef e8 21 8a 0f d5 48 89 ef e8 a9 78 0f d5 48 8b [ 8687.829462] RSP: 0018:ffffa604072efce0 EFLAGS: 00010202 [ 8687.834689] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8f43833b2000 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 8687.841821] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff8f4b0545b298 RDI: ffff8f43833b2000 [ 8687.848955] RBP: ffff8f43833b2000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 8687.856086] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 000ffffffffff000 R12: ffff8f43833b2ef0 [ 8687.863218] R13: ffff8f43833b2ef0 R14: ffff915103966000 R15: ffff8f43833b2008 [ 8687.870342] FS: 00007f79501c3740(0000) GS:ffff8f4adffc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 8687.878427] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 8687.884174] CR2: 0000000000000030 CR3: 000000014276e004 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [ 8687.891306] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 8687.898441] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 8687.905572] PKRU: 55555554 [ 8687.908286] Call Trace: [ 8687.910737] [ 8687.912843] i40e_remove+0x2c0/0x330 [i40e] [ 8687.917040] pci_device_remove+0x33/0xa0 [ 8687.920962] device_release_driver_internal+0x1aa/0x230 [ 8687.926188] driver_detach+0x44/0x90 [ 8687.929770] bus_remove_driver+0x55/0xe0 [ 8687.933693] pci_unregister_driver+0x2a/0xb0 [ 8687.937967] i40e_exit_module+0xc/0xf48 [i40e] Two offline tests cause IRDMA driver failure (ETIMEDOUT) and this failure is indicated back to i40e_client_subtask() that calls i40e_client_del_instance() to free client instance referenced by pf->cinst and sets this pointer to NULL. During the module removal i40e_remove() calls i40e_lan_del_device() that dereferences pf->cinst that is NULL -> crash. Do not remove client instance when client open callbacks fails and just clear __I40E_CLIENT_INSTANCE_OPENED bit. The driver also needs to take care about this situation (when netdev is up and client is NOT opened) in i40e_notify_client_of_netdev_close() and calls client close callback only when __I40E_CLIENT_INSTANCE_OPENED is set. Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48688? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-48688? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-48688 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48688 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-2022-48688 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-48688 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 May 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-2022-48688 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-2022-48688/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48688/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48688 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48688 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48688 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48688/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.