# CVE-2022-49513: cpufreq: governor: Use kobject release() method to free dbs_data > A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel cpufreq governor allows local attackers to cause a system crash via improper memory management. - **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-2022-49513, GHSA-33xc-w6xp-76j4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-49513, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49513 ## What is CVE-2022-49513? CVE-2022-49513 is a medium-severity use after free 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: cpufreq: governor: Use kobject release() method to free dbs_data The struct dbs_data embeds a struct gov_attr_set and the struct gov_attr_set embeds a kobject. Since every kobject must have a release() method and we can't use kfree() to free it directly, so introduce cpufreq_dbs_data_release() to release the dbs_data via the kobject::release() method. This fixes the calltrace like below: ODEBUG: free active (active state 0) object type: timer_list hint: delayed_work_timer_fn+0x0/0x34 WARNING: CPU: 12 PID: 810 at lib/debugobjects.c:505 debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 Modules linked in: CPU: 12 PID: 810 Comm: sh Not tainted 5.16.0-next-20220120-yocto-standard+ #536 Hardware name: Marvell OcteonTX CN96XX board (DT) pstate: 60400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 lr : debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 sp : ffff80001dfcf9a0 x29: ffff80001dfcf9a0 x28: 0000000000000001 x27: ffff0001464f0000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff8000090e3f00 x24: ffff80000af60210 x23: ffff8000094dfb78 x22: ffff8000090e3f00 x21: ffff0001080b7118 x20: ffff80000aeb2430 x19: ffff800009e8f5e0 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000002 x16: 00004d62e58be040 x15: 013590470523aff8 x14: ffff8000090e1828 x13: 0000000001359047 x12: 00000000f5257d14 x11: 0000000000040591 x10: 0000000066c1ffea x9 : ffff8000080d15e0 x8 : ffff80000a1765a8 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff800009e8c000 x4 : ffff800009e8c760 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0001474ed040 Call trace: debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 __debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x1d0/0x25c debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x24/0xa0 kfree+0x11c/0x440 cpufreq_dbs_governor_exit+0xa8/0xac cpufreq_exit_governor+0x44/0x90 cpufreq_set_policy+0x29c/0x570 store_scaling_governor+0x110/0x154 store+0xb0/0xe0 sysfs_kf_write+0x58/0x84 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12c/0x1c0 new_sync_write+0xf0/0x18c vfs_write+0x1cc/0x220 ksys_write+0x74/0x100 __arm64_sys_write+0x28/0x3c invoke_syscall.constprop.0+0x58/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x70/0x170 el0_svc+0x54/0x190 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa4/0x130 el0t_64_sync+0x1a0/0x1a4 irq event stamp: 189006 hardirqs last enabled at (189005): [] finish_task_switch.isra.0+0xe0/0x2c0 hardirqs last disabled at (189006): [] el1_dbg+0x24/0xa0 softirqs last enabled at (188966): [] __do_softirq+0x4b0/0x6a0 softirqs last disabled at (188957): [] __irq_exit_rcu+0x108/0x1a4 [ rjw: Because can be freed by the gov_attr_set_put() in cpufreq_dbs_governor_exit() now, it is also necessary to put the invocation of the governor ->exit() callback into the new cpufreq_dbs_data_release() function. ] ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49513? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-49513? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-49513 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49513 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-2022-49513 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-49513 is a medium-severity use after free 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-2022-49513 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-2022-49513/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49513/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49513 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49513 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49513 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49513/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.