CVE-2022-49350 net: mdio: unexport __init-annotated mdio_bus_init()
A kernel panic can occur if a module attempts to access an exported initialization symbol that has been freed, causing a denial of service.
- 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-2022-49350?
CVE-2022-49350 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:
net: mdio: unexport __init-annotated mdio_bus_init()
EXPORT_SYMBOL and __init is a bad combination because the .init.text section is freed up after the initialization. Hence, modules cannot use symbols annotated __init. The access to a freed symbol may end up with kernel panic.
modpost used to detect it, but it has been broken for a decade.
Recently, I fixed modpost so it started to warn it again, then this showed up in linux-next builds.
There are two ways to fix it:
- Remove __init - Remove EXPORT_SYMBOL
I chose the latter for this case because the only in-tree call-site, drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c is never compiled as modular. (CONFIG_PHYLIB is boolean)
Weakness: CWE-908
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49350?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-49350?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2022-49350 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49350 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49350, GHSA-wv6j-wrfj-57wc, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49350.