# CVE-2022-49353: powerpc/papr_scm: don't requests stats with '0' sized stats buffer

> A missing check in the Linux kernel papr_scm driver causes a null pointer dereference and kernel panic when performance stats are disabled.

- **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-2022-49353, GHSA-6gv8-fgf9-gqgc, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49353

## What is CVE-2022-49353?

CVE-2022-49353 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:

powerpc/papr_scm: don't requests stats with '0' sized stats buffer

Sachin reported [1] that on a POWER-10 lpar he is seeing a kernel panic being
reported with vPMEM when papr_scm probe is being called. The panic is of the
form below and is observed only with following option disabled(profile) for the
said LPAR 'Enable Performance Information Collection' in the HMC:

 Kernel attempted to write user page (1c) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
 BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on write at 0x0000001c
 Faulting instruction address: 0xc008000001b90844
 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
<snip>
 NIP [c008000001b90844] drc_pmem_query_stats+0x5c/0x270 [papr_scm]
 LR [c008000001b92794] papr_scm_probe+0x2ac/0x6ec [papr_scm]
 Call Trace:
       0xc00000000941bca0 (unreliable)
       papr_scm_probe+0x2ac/0x6ec [papr_scm]
       platform_probe+0x98/0x150
       really_probe+0xfc/0x510
       __driver_probe_device+0x17c/0x230
<snip>
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

On investigation looks like this panic was caused due to a 'stat_buffer' of
size==0 being provided to drc_pmem_query_stats() to fetch all performance
stats-ids of an NVDIMM. However drc_pmem_query_stats() shouldn't have been called
since the vPMEM NVDIMM doesn't support and performance stat-id's. This was caused
due to missing check for 'p->stat_buffer_len' at the beginning of
papr_scm_pmu_check_events() which indicates that the NVDIMM doesn't support
performance-stats.

Fix this by introducing the check for 'p->stat_buffer_len' at the beginning of
papr_scm_pmu_check_events().

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/6B3A522A-6A5F-4CC9-B268-0C63AA6E07D3@linux.ibm.com

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49353?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49353?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49353 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49353 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-2022-49353 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49353 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-2022-49353 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-2022-49353/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49353/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49353
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49353
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49353

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49353/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.