# CVE-2022-49446: nvdimm: Fix firmware activation deadlock scenarios

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's NVDIMM subsystem can cause a deadlock during power management operations, leading to system 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-2022-49446, GHSA-xrg9-xjhp-934h, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49446

## What is CVE-2022-49446?

CVE-2022-49446 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:

nvdimm: Fix firmware activation deadlock scenarios

Lockdep reports the following deadlock scenarios for CXL root device
power-management, device_prepare(), operations, and device_shutdown()
operations for 'nd_region' devices:

 Chain exists of:
   &nvdimm_region_key --> &nvdimm_bus->reconfig_mutex --> system_transition_mutex

  Possible unsafe locking scenario:

        CPU0                    CPU1
        ----                    ----
   lock(system_transition_mutex);
                                lock(&nvdimm_bus->reconfig_mutex);
                                lock(system_transition_mutex);
   lock(&nvdimm_region_key);

 Chain exists of:
   &cxl_nvdimm_bridge_key --> acpi_scan_lock --> &cxl_root_key

  Possible unsafe locking scenario:

        CPU0                    CPU1
        ----                    ----
   lock(&cxl_root_key);
                                lock(acpi_scan_lock);
                                lock(&cxl_root_key);
   lock(&cxl_nvdimm_bridge_key);

These stem from holding nvdimm_bus_lock() over hibernate_quiet_exec()
which walks the entire system device topology taking device_lock() along
the way. The nvdimm_bus_lock() is protecting against unregistration,
multiple simultaneous ops callers, and preventing activate_show() from
racing activate_store(). For the first 2, the lock is redundant.
Unregistration already flushes all ops users, and sysfs already prevents
multiple threads to be active in an ops handler at the same time. For
the last userspace should already be waiting for its last
activate_store() to complete, and does not need activate_show() to flush
the write side, so this lock usage can be deleted in these attributes.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49446?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49446?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49446 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49446 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-2022-49446 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49446 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-2022-49446 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-2022-49446/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49446/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49446
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49446
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49446

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49446/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.