# CVE-2022-49286: tpm: use try_get_ops() in tpm-space.c

> A race condition in the Linux kernel TPM driver can cause a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.

- **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:** 12 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49286, GHSA-j8q3-52jg-4q93, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49286

## What is CVE-2022-49286?

CVE-2022-49286 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:

tpm: use try_get_ops() in tpm-space.c

As part of the series conversion to remove nested TPM operations:

https://lore.kernel.org/all/20190205224723.19671-1-jarkko.sakkinen@linux.intel.com/

exposure of the chip->tpm_mutex was removed from much of the upper
level code.  In this conversion, tpm2_del_space() was missed.  This
didn't matter much because it's usually called closely after a
converted operation, so there's only a very tiny race window where the
chip can be removed before the space flushing is done which causes a
NULL deref on the mutex.  However, there are reports of this window
being hit in practice, so fix this by converting tpm2_del_space() to
use tpm_try_get_ops(), which performs all the teardown checks before
acquring the mutex.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49286?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49286?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49286 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49286 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-2022-49286 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49286 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-2022-49286 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-2022-49286/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49286/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49286
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49286
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49286

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49286/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.