# CVE-2022-48997: char: tpm: Protect tpm_pm_suspend with locks

> A race condition in the Linux kernel TPM suspend function can cause system errors and potential denial of service during power management events.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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-2022-48997, GHSA-vch3-xc23-jrf2, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48997

## What is CVE-2022-48997?

CVE-2022-48997 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:

char: tpm: Protect tpm_pm_suspend with locks

Currently tpm transactions are executed unconditionally in
tpm_pm_suspend() function, which may lead to races with other tpm
accessors in the system.

Specifically, the hw_random tpm driver makes use of tpm_get_random(),
and this function is called in a loop from a kthread, which means it's
not frozen alongside userspace, and so can race with the work done
during system suspend:

  tpm tpm0: tpm_transmit: tpm_recv: error -52
  tpm tpm0: invalid TPM_STS.x 0xff, dumping stack for forensics
  CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: init Not tainted 6.1.0-rc5+ #135
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.0-20220807_005459-localhost 04/01/2014
  Call Trace:
   tpm_tis_status.cold+0x19/0x20
   tpm_transmit+0x13b/0x390
   tpm_transmit_cmd+0x20/0x80
   tpm1_pm_suspend+0xa6/0x110
   tpm_pm_suspend+0x53/0x80
   __pnp_bus_suspend+0x35/0xe0
   __device_suspend+0x10f/0x350

Fix this by calling tpm_try_get_ops(), which itself is a wrapper around
tpm_chip_start(), but takes the appropriate mutex.

[Jason: reworked commit message, added metadata]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48997?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48997?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48997 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48997 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-2022-48997 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48997 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-2022-48997 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-2022-48997/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48997/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48997
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48997
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48997

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48997/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.