# CVE-2022-48984: can: slcan: fix freed work crash

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash in the Linux slcan driver by triggering a null pointer dereference during work queue processing.

- **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:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48984, GHSA-jf6c-w73v-473w, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48984

## What is CVE-2022-48984?

CVE-2022-48984 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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:

can: slcan: fix freed work crash

The LTP test pty03 is causing a crash in slcan:
  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008
  #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
  PGD 0 P4D 0
  Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 0 PID: 348 Comm: kworker/0:3 Not tainted 6.0.8-1-default #1 openSUSE Tumbleweed 9d20364b934f5aab0a9bdf84e8f45cfdfae39dab
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b-rebuilt.opensuse.org 04/01/2014
  Workqueue:  0x0 (events)
  RIP: 0010:process_one_work (/home/rich/kernel/linux/kernel/workqueue.c:706 /home/rich/kernel/linux/kernel/workqueue.c:2185)
  Code: 49 89 ff 41 56 41 55 41 54 55 53 48 89 f3 48 83 ec 10 48 8b 06 48 8b 6f 48 49 89 c4 45 30 e4 a8 04 b8 00 00 00 00 4c 0f 44 e0 <49> 8b 44 24 08 44 8b a8 00 01 00 00 41 83 e5 20 f6 45 10 04 75 0e
  RSP: 0018:ffffaf7b40f47e98 EFLAGS: 00010046
  RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9d644e1b8b48 RCX: ffff9d649e439968
  RDX: 00000000ffff8455 RSI: ffff9d644e1b8b48 RDI: ffff9d64764aa6c0
  RBP: ffff9d649e4335c0 R08: 0000000000000c00 R09: ffff9d64764aa734
  R10: 0000000000000007 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000000
  R13: ffff9d649e4335e8 R14: ffff9d64490da780 R15: ffff9d64764aa6c0
  FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9d649e400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 0000000036424000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
  worker_thread (/home/rich/kernel/linux/kernel/workqueue.c:2436)
  kthread (/home/rich/kernel/linux/kernel/kthread.c:376)
  ret_from_fork (/home/rich/kernel/linux/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312)

Apparently, the slcan's tx_work is freed while being scheduled. While
slcan_netdev_close() (netdev side) calls flush_work(&sl->tx_work),
slcan_close() (tty side) does not. So when the netdev is never set UP,
but the tty is stuffed with bytes and forced to wakeup write, the work
is scheduled, but never flushed.

So add an additional flush_work() to slcan_close() to be sure the work
is flushed under all circumstances.

The Fixes commit below moved flush_work() from slcan_close() to
slcan_netdev_close(). What was the rationale behind it? Maybe we can
drop the one in slcan_netdev_close()?

I see the same pattern in can327. So it perhaps needs the very same fix.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48984?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48984?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48984 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48984 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-2022-48984 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48984 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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-2022-48984 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-2022-48984/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48984/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48984
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48984
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48984

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48984/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.