# CVE-2022-49003: nvme: fix SRCU protection of nvme_ns_head list

> A race condition in the Linux kernel NVMe driver allows concurrent operations to cause a use-after-free, leading to a system crash.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49003, GHSA-w33q-x299-hh5v, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49003

## What is CVE-2022-49003?

CVE-2022-49003 is a critical use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nvme: fix SRCU protection of nvme_ns_head list

Walking the nvme_ns_head siblings list is protected by the head's srcu
in nvme_ns_head_submit_bio() but not nvme_mpath_revalidate_paths().
Removing namespaces from the list also fails to synchronize the srcu.
Concurrent scan work can therefore cause use-after-frees.

Hold the head's srcu lock in nvme_mpath_revalidate_paths() and
synchronize with the srcu, not the global RCU, in nvme_ns_remove().

Observed the following panic when making NVMe/RDMA connections
with native multipath on the Rocky Linux 8.6 kernel
(it seems the upstream kernel has the same race condition).
Disassembly shows the faulting instruction is cmp 0x50(%rdx),%rcx;
computing capacity != get_capacity(ns->disk).
Address 0x50 is dereferenced because ns->disk is NULL.
The NULL disk appears to be the result of concurrent scan work
freeing the namespace (note the log line in the middle of the panic).

[37314.206036] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000050
[37314.206036] nvme0n3: detected capacity change from 0 to 11811160064
[37314.299753] PGD 0 P4D 0
[37314.299756] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI
[37314.299759] CPU: 29 PID: 322046 Comm: kworker/u98:3 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G        W      X --------- -  - 4.18.0-372.32.1.el8test86.x86_64 #1
[37314.299762] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R720/0JP31P, BIOS 2.7.0 05/23/2018
[37314.299763] Workqueue: nvme-wq nvme_scan_work [nvme_core]
[37314.299783] RIP: 0010:nvme_mpath_revalidate_paths+0x26/0xb0 [nvme_core]
[37314.299790] Code: 1f 44 00 00 66 66 66 66 90 55 53 48 8b 5f 50 48 8b 83 c8 c9 00 00 48 8b 13 48 8b 48 50 48 39 d3 74 20 48 8d 42 d0 48 8b 50 20 <48> 3b 4a 50 74 05 f0 80 60 70 ef 48 8b 50 30 48 8d 42 d0 48 39 d3
[37315.058803] RSP: 0018:ffffabe28f913d10 EFLAGS: 00010202
[37315.121316] RAX: ffff927a077da800 RBX: ffff92991dd70000 RCX: 0000000001600000
[37315.206704] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff92991b719800
[37315.292106] RBP: ffff929a6b70c000 R08: 000000010234cd4a R09: c0000000ffff7fff
[37315.377501] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: ffffabe28f913a30 R12: 0000000000000000
[37315.462889] R13: ffff92992716600c R14: ffff929964e6e030 R15: ffff92991dd70000
[37315.548286] FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff92b87fb80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[37315.645111] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[37315.713871] CR2: 0000000000000050 CR3: 0000002208810006 CR4: 00000000000606e0
[37315.799267] Call Trace:
[37315.828515]  nvme_update_ns_info+0x1ac/0x250 [nvme_core]
[37315.892075]  nvme_validate_or_alloc_ns+0x2ff/0xa00 [nvme_core]
[37315.961871]  ? __blk_mq_free_request+0x6b/0x90
[37316.015021]  nvme_scan_work+0x151/0x240 [nvme_core]
[37316.073371]  process_one_work+0x1a7/0x360
[37316.121318]  ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0
[37316.168227]  worker_thread+0x30/0x390
[37316.212024]  ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0
[37316.258939]  kthread+0x10a/0x120
[37316.297557]  ? set_kthread_struct+0x50/0x50
[37316.347590]  ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40
[37316.390360] Modules linked in: nvme_rdma nvme_tcp(X) nvme_fabrics nvme_core netconsole iscsi_tcp libiscsi_tcp dm_queue_length dm_service_time nf_conntrack_netlink br_netfilter bridge stp llc overlay nft_chain_nat ipt_MASQUERADE nf_nat xt_addrtype xt_CT nft_counter xt_state xt_conntrack nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 xt_comment xt_multiport nft_compat nf_tables libcrc32c nfnetlink dm_multipath tg3 rpcrdma sunrpc rdma_ucm ib_srpt ib_isert iscsi_target_mod target_core_mod ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm intel_rapl_msr iTCO_wdt iTCO_vendor_support dcdbas intel_rapl_common sb_edac x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp coretemp kvm_intel ipmi_ssif kvm irqbypass crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul mlx5_ib ghash_clmulni_intel ib_uverbs rapl intel_cstate intel_uncore ib_core ipmi_si joydev mei_me pcspkr ipmi_devintf mei lpc_ich wmi ipmi_msghandler acpi_power_meter ex
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49003?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49003?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49003 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49003 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-2022-49003 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49003 is a critical use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49003 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-2022-49003/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49003/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49003
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49003
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49003

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49003/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.