# CVE-2022-49456: bonding: fix missed rcu protection

> A missing RCU lock in the Linux kernel bonding driver allows a local attacker to trigger a race condition, potentially causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49456, GHSA-m3wq-3v6m-hq7p, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49456

## What is CVE-2022-49456?

CVE-2022-49456 is a high-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:

bonding: fix missed rcu protection

When removing the rcu_read_lock in bond_ethtool_get_ts_info() as
discussed [1], I didn't notice it could be called via setsockopt,
which doesn't hold rcu lock, as syzbot pointed:

  stack backtrace:
  CPU: 0 PID: 3599 Comm: syz-executor317 Not tainted 5.18.0-rc5-syzkaller-01392-g01f4685797a5 #0
  Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
   dump_stack_lvl+0xcd/0x134 lib/dump_stack.c:106
   bond_option_active_slave_get_rcu include/net/bonding.h:353 [inline]
   bond_ethtool_get_ts_info+0x32c/0x3a0 drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5595
   __ethtool_get_ts_info+0x173/0x240 net/ethtool/common.c:554
   ethtool_get_phc_vclocks+0x99/0x110 net/ethtool/common.c:568
   sock_timestamping_bind_phc net/core/sock.c:869 [inline]
   sock_set_timestamping+0x3a3/0x7e0 net/core/sock.c:916
   sock_setsockopt+0x543/0x2ec0 net/core/sock.c:1221
   __sys_setsockopt+0x55e/0x6a0 net/socket.c:2223
   __do_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2238 [inline]
   __se_sys_setsockopt net/socket.c:2235 [inline]
   __x64_sys_setsockopt+0xba/0x150 net/socket.c:2235
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
  RIP: 0033:0x7f8902c8eb39

Fix it by adding rcu_read_lock and take a ref on the real_dev.
Since dev_hold() and dev_put() can take NULL these days, we can
skip checking if real_dev exist.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/27565.1642742439@famine/

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49456?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49456?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49456 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49456 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-2022-49456 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49456 is a high-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-2022-49456 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-2022-49456/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49456/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49456
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49456
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49456

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49456/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.