# CVE-2022-48840: iavf: Fix hang during reboot/shutdown

> A logic error in the iavf driver causes an infinite loop during system shutdown, leading to a hang and 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:** 16 Jul 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48840, GHSA-f9vw-2hpv-h272, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48840

## What is CVE-2022-48840?

CVE-2022-48840 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

iavf: Fix hang during reboot/shutdown

Recent commit 974578017fc1 ("iavf: Add waiting so the port is
initialized in remove") adds a wait-loop at the beginning of
iavf_remove() to ensure that port initialization is finished
prior unregistering net device. This causes a regression
in reboot/shutdown scenario because in this case callback
iavf_shutdown() is called and this callback detaches the device,
makes it down if it is running and sets its state to __IAVF_REMOVE.
Later shutdown callback of associated PF driver (e.g. ice_shutdown)
is called. That callback calls among other things sriov_disable()
that calls indirectly iavf_remove() (see stack trace below).
As the adapter state is already __IAVF_REMOVE then the mentioned
loop is end-less and shutdown process hangs.

The patch fixes this by checking adapter's state at the beginning
of iavf_remove() and skips the rest of the function if the adapter
is already in remove state (shutdown is in progress).

Reproducer:
1. Create VF on PF driven by ice or i40e driver
2. Ensure that the VF is bound to iavf driver
3. Reboot

[52625.981294] sysrq: SysRq : Show Blocked State
[52625.988377] task:reboot          state:D stack:    0 pid:17359 ppid:     1 f2
[52625.996732] Call Trace:
[52625.999187]  __schedule+0x2d1/0x830
[52626.007400]  schedule+0x35/0xa0
[52626.010545]  schedule_hrtimeout_range_clock+0x83/0x100
[52626.020046]  usleep_range+0x5b/0x80
[52626.023540]  iavf_remove+0x63/0x5b0 [iavf]
[52626.027645]  pci_device_remove+0x3b/0xc0
[52626.031572]  device_release_driver_internal+0x103/0x1f0
[52626.036805]  pci_stop_bus_device+0x72/0xa0
[52626.040904]  pci_stop_and_remove_bus_device+0xe/0x20
[52626.045870]  pci_iov_remove_virtfn+0xba/0x120
[52626.050232]  sriov_disable+0x2f/0xe0
[52626.053813]  ice_free_vfs+0x7c/0x340 [ice]
[52626.057946]  ice_remove+0x220/0x240 [ice]
[52626.061967]  ice_shutdown+0x16/0x50 [ice]
[52626.065987]  pci_device_shutdown+0x34/0x60
[52626.070086]  device_shutdown+0x165/0x1c5
[52626.074011]  kernel_restart+0xe/0x30
[52626.077593]  __do_sys_reboot+0x1d2/0x210
[52626.093815]  do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x1a0
[52626.097483]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x65/0xca

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48840?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48840?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48840 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48840 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-2022-48840 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48840 is a medium-severity denial of service 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48840 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-2022-48840/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48840/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48840
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48840
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48840

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48840/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.