# CVE-2022-48942: hwmon: Handle failure to register sensor with thermal zone correctly

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel hwmon subsystem causes a crash when thermal zone registration fails, leading to 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:** 22 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48942, GHSA-8g6r-2qgw-fhv7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48942

## What is CVE-2022-48942?

CVE-2022-48942 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 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:

hwmon: Handle failure to register sensor with thermal zone correctly

If an attempt is made to a sensor with a thermal zone and it fails,
the call to devm_thermal_zone_of_sensor_register() may return -ENODEV.
This may result in crashes similar to the following.

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000003cd
...
Internal error: Oops: 96000021 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
...
pstate: 60400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : mutex_lock+0x18/0x60
lr : thermal_zone_device_update+0x40/0x2e0
sp : ffff800014c4fc60
x29: ffff800014c4fc60 x28: ffff365ee3f6e000 x27: ffffdde218426790
x26: ffff365ee3f6e000 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: ffff365ee3f6e000
x23: ffffdde218426870 x22: ffff365ee3f6e000 x21: 00000000000003cd
x20: ffff365ee8bf3308 x19: ffffffffffffffed x18: 0000000000000000
x17: ffffdde21842689c x16: ffffdde1cb7a0b7c x15: 0000000000000040
x14: ffffdde21a4889a0 x13: 0000000000000228 x12: 0000000000000000
x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 0000000000000000
x8 : 0000000001120000 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : 0068000878e20f07 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 00000000000003cd
x2 : ffff365ee3f6e000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 00000000000003cd
Call trace:
 mutex_lock+0x18/0x60
 hwmon_notify_event+0xfc/0x110
 0xffffdde1cb7a0a90
 0xffffdde1cb7a0b7c
 irq_thread_fn+0x2c/0xa0
 irq_thread+0x134/0x240
 kthread+0x178/0x190
 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
Code: d503201f d503201f d2800001 aa0103e4 (c8e47c02)

Jon Hunter reports that the exact call sequence is:

hwmon_notify_event()
  --> hwmon_thermal_notify()
    --> thermal_zone_device_update()
      --> update_temperature()
        --> mutex_lock()

The hwmon core needs to handle all errors returned from calls
to devm_thermal_zone_of_sensor_register(). If the call fails
with -ENODEV, report that the sensor was not attached to a
thermal zone  but continue to register the hwmon device.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48942?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48942?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48942 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48942 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-2022-48942 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48942 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 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-2022-48942 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-2022-48942/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48942/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48942
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48942
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48942

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48942/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.