# CVE-2022-49256: watch_queue: Actually free the watch

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel watch_queue subsystem allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, potentially causing 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:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49256, GHSA-wx4p-gp87-7m52, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49256

## What is CVE-2022-49256?

CVE-2022-49256 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

watch_queue: Actually free the watch

free_watch() does everything barring actually freeing the watch object.  Fix
this by adding the missing kfree.

kmemleak produces a report something like the following.  Note that as an
address can be seen in the first word, the watch would appear to have gone
through call_rcu().

BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff88810ce4a200 (size 96):
  comm "syz-executor352", pid 3605, jiffies 4294947473 (age 13.720s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    e0 82 48 0d 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..H.............
    80 a2 e4 0c 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  backtrace:
    [<ffffffff8214e6cc>] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:581 [inline]
    [<ffffffff8214e6cc>] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:714 [inline]
    [<ffffffff8214e6cc>] keyctl_watch_key+0xec/0x2e0 security/keys/keyctl.c:1800
    [<ffffffff8214ec84>] __do_sys_keyctl+0x3c4/0x490 security/keys/keyctl.c:2016
    [<ffffffff84493a25>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
    [<ffffffff84493a25>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
    [<ffffffff84600068>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49256?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49256?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49256 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49256 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-2022-49256 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49256 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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-2022-49256 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-2022-49256/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49256/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49256
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49256
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49256

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49256/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.