# CVE-2022-49540: rcu-tasks: Fix race in schedule and flush work > A race condition in the Linux kernel's RCU tasks subsystem during CPU boot can cause a warning and potential system instability. - **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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-2022-49540, GHSA-7xxj-9p5p-q5rj, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49540 ## What is CVE-2022-49540? CVE-2022-49540 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: rcu-tasks: Fix race in schedule and flush work While booting secondary CPUs, cpus_read_[lock/unlock] is not keeping online cpumask stable. The transient online mask results in below calltrace. [ 0.324121] CPU1: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000001 [0x410fd083] [ 0.346652] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU2 [ 0.347212] CPU2: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000002 [0x410fd083] [ 0.377255] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU3 [ 0.377823] CPU3: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000003 [0x410fd083] [ 0.379040] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 0.383662] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at kernel/workqueue.c:3084 __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.384850] Modules linked in: [ 0.385403] CPU: 0 PID: 10 Comm: rcu_tasks_rude_ Not tainted 5.17.0-rc3-v8+ #13 [ 0.386473] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 (DT) [ 0.387289] pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 0.388308] pc : __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.388970] lr : __flush_work+0x80/0x138 [ 0.389620] sp : ffffffc00aaf3c60 [ 0.390139] x29: ffffffc00aaf3d20 x28: ffffffc009c16af0 x27: ffffff80f761df48 [ 0.391316] x26: 0000000000000004 x25: 0000000000000003 x24: 0000000000000100 [ 0.392493] x23: ffffffffffffffff x22: ffffffc009c16b10 x21: ffffffc009c16b28 [ 0.393668] x20: ffffffc009e53861 x19: ffffff80f77fbf40 x18: 00000000d744fcc9 [ 0.394842] x17: 000000000000000b x16: 00000000000001c2 x15: ffffffc009e57550 [ 0.396016] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffffffffffffffff x12: 0000000100000000 [ 0.397190] x11: 0000000000000462 x10: ffffff8040258008 x9 : 0000000100000000 [ 0.398364] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffffffc0093c8bf4 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.399538] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : ffffffc00a976e40 x3 : ffffffc00810444c [ 0.400711] x2 : 0000000000000004 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.401886] Call trace: [ 0.402309] __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.402941] schedule_on_each_cpu+0x228/0x278 [ 0.403693] rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp+0x130/0x144 [ 0.404502] rcu_tasks_kthread+0x220/0x254 [ 0.405264] kthread+0x174/0x1ac [ 0.405837] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 0.406456] irq event stamp: 102 [ 0.406966] hardirqs last enabled at (101): [] _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x78/0xb4 [ 0.408304] hardirqs last disabled at (102): [] el1_dbg+0x24/0x5c [ 0.409410] softirqs last enabled at (54): [] local_bh_enable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.410645] softirqs last disabled at (50): [] local_bh_disable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.411890] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 0.413000] smp: Brought up 1 node, 4 CPUs [ 0.413762] SMP: Total of 4 processors activated. [ 0.414566] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL0 Support [ 0.415414] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL1 Support [ 0.416278] CPU features: detected: CRC32 instructions [ 0.447021] Callback from call_rcu_tasks_rude() invoked. [ 0.506693] Callback from call_rcu_tasks() invoked. This commit therefore fixes this issue by applying a single-CPU optimization to the RCU Tasks Rude grace-period process. The key point here is that the purpose of this RCU flavor is to force a schedule on each online CPU since some past event. But the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function runs in the context of the RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread, so there must already have been a context switch on the current CPU since the call to either synchronize_rcu_tasks_rude() or call_rcu_tasks_rude(). So if there is only a single CPU online, RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread does not need to anything at all. It turns out that the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function's call to schedule_on_each_cpu() causes problems during early boot. During that time, there is only one online CPU, namely the boot CPU. Therefore, applying this single-CPU optimization fixes early-boot instances of this problem. Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49540? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-49540? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-49540 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49540 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-2022-49540 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-49540 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-2022-49540 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-2022-49540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49540/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49540 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49540 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49540 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49540/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.