# CVE-2022-49648: tracing/histograms: Fix memory leak problem

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel tracing histograms allows local attackers to exhaust kernel memory, potentially causing 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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49648, GHSA-7rcj-vmjp-fwmv, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49648

## What is CVE-2022-49648?

CVE-2022-49648 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

tracing/histograms: Fix memory leak problem

This reverts commit 46bbe5c671e06f070428b9be142cc4ee5cedebac.

As commit 46bbe5c671e0 ("tracing: fix double free") said, the
"double free" problem reported by clang static analyzer is:
  > In parse_var_defs() if there is a problem allocating
  > var_defs.expr, the earlier var_defs.name is freed.
  > This free is duplicated by free_var_defs() which frees
  > the rest of the list.

However, if there is a problem allocating N-th var_defs.expr:
  + in parse_var_defs(), the freed 'earlier var_defs.name' is
    actually the N-th var_defs.name;
  + then in free_var_defs(), the names from 0th to (N-1)-th are freed;

                        IF ALLOCATING PROBLEM HAPPENED HERE!!! -+
                                                                 \
                                                                  |
          0th           1th                 (N-1)-th      N-th    V
          +-------------+-------------+-----+-------------+-----------
var_defs: | name | expr | name | expr | ... | name | expr | name | ///
          +-------------+-------------+-----+-------------+-----------

These two frees don't act on same name, so there was no "double free"
problem before. Conversely, after that commit, we get a "memory leak"
problem because the above "N-th var_defs.name" is not freed.

If enable CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK and inject a fault at where the N-th
var_defs.expr allocated, then execute on shell like:
  $ echo 'hist:key=call_site:val=$v1,$v2:v1=bytes_req,v2=bytes_alloc' > \
/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger

Then kmemleak reports:
  unreferenced object 0xffff8fb100ef3518 (size 8):
    comm "bash", pid 196, jiffies 4295681690 (age 28.538s)
    hex dump (first 8 bytes):
      76 31 00 00 b1 8f ff ff                          v1......
    backtrace:
      [<0000000038fe4895>] kstrdup+0x2d/0x60
      [<00000000c99c049a>] event_hist_trigger_parse+0x206f/0x20e0
      [<00000000ae70d2cc>] trigger_process_regex+0xc0/0x110
      [<0000000066737a4c>] event_trigger_write+0x75/0xd0
      [<000000007341e40c>] vfs_write+0xbb/0x2a0
      [<0000000087fde4c2>] ksys_write+0x59/0xd0
      [<00000000581e9cdf>] do_syscall_64+0x3a/0x80
      [<00000000cf3b065c>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49648?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49648?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49648 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49648 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-2022-49648 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49648 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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-2022-49648 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-2022-49648/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49648/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49648
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49648
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49648

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49648/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.