CVE-2022-48832 audit: don't deref the syscall args when checking the openat2 open_how::flags

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel audit subsystem can cause a system crash when processing openat2 syscalls.

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

What is CVE-2022-48832?

CVE-2022-48832 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Jul 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:

audit: don't deref the syscall args when checking the openat2 open_how::flags

As reported by Jeff, dereferencing the openat2 syscall argument in audit_match_perm() to obtain the open_how::flags can result in an oops/page-fault. This patch fixes this by using the open_how struct that we store in the audit_context with audit_openat2_how().

Independent of this patch, Richard Guy Briggs posted a similar patch to the audit mailing list roughly 40 minutes after this patch was posted.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48832?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-48832?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-48832 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48832 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48832, GHSA-cmrj-7qg8-pwx8, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48832.

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