CVE-2022-49281 cifs: fix handlecache and multiuser

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A bug in the Linux kernel CIFS module causes kernel warnings and potential instability during unmounting in multiuser configurations.

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

What is CVE-2022-49281?

CVE-2022-49281 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:

cifs: fix handlecache and multiuser

In multiuser each individual user has their own tcon structure for the share and thus their own handle for a cached directory. When we umount such a share we much make sure to release the pinned down dentry for each such tcon and not just the master tcon.

Otherwise we will get nasty warnings on umount that dentries are still in use: [ 3459.590047] BUG: Dentry 00000000115c6f41{i=12000000019d95,n=/} still in use\ (2) [unmount of cifs cifs] ... [ 3459.590492] Call Trace: [ 3459.590500] d_walk+0x61/0x2a0 [ 3459.590518] ? shrink_lock_dentry.part.0+0xe0/0xe0 [ 3459.590526] shrink_dcache_for_umount+0x49/0x110 [ 3459.590535] generic_shutdown_super+0x1a/0x110 [ 3459.590542] kill_anon_super+0x14/0x30 [ 3459.590549] cifs_kill_sb+0xf5/0x104 [cifs] [ 3459.590773] deactivate_locked_super+0x36/0xa0 [ 3459.590782] cleanup_mnt+0x131/0x190 [ 3459.590789] task_work_run+0x5c/0x90 [ 3459.590798] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0x151/0x160 [ 3459.590809] exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x83/0xd0 [ 3459.590818] syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x12/0x30 [ 3459.590828] do_syscall_64+0x48/0x90 [ 3459.590833] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49281?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49281?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-49281 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49281 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49281, GHSA-gw4h-w2h5-pqq7, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-49281, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49281.

Is CVE-2022-49281 in your software?

Upload an SBOM and sbomify checks it against every vulnerability here, every day.

Check your SBOMs for free