# CVE-2022-49152: XArray: Fix xas_create_range() when multi-order entry present

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel XArray implementation allows local attackers to cause a system crash via a race condition.

- **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:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49152, GHSA-f5mr-vrh3-3rpp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49152

## What is CVE-2022-49152?

CVE-2022-49152 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. 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:

XArray: Fix xas_create_range() when multi-order entry present

If there is already an entry present that is of order >= XA_CHUNK_SHIFT
when we call xas_create_range(), xas_create_range() will misinterpret
that entry as a node and dereference xa_node->parent, generally leading
to a crash that looks something like this:

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000001:
0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f]
CPU: 0 PID: 32 Comm: khugepaged Not tainted 5.17.0-rc8-syzkaller-00003-g56e337f2cf13 #0
RIP: 0010:xa_parent_locked include/linux/xarray.h:1207 [inline]
RIP: 0010:xas_create_range+0x2d9/0x6e0 lib/xarray.c:725

It's deterministically reproducable once you know what the problem is,
but producing it in a live kernel requires khugepaged to hit a race.
While the problem has been present since xas_create_range() was
introduced, I'm not aware of a way to hit it before the page cache was
converted to use multi-index entries.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49152?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49152?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49152 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49152 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-2022-49152 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49152 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. 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-2022-49152 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-2022-49152/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49152/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49152
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49152
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49152

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49152/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.