CVE-2022-49726 clocksource: hyper-v: unexport __init-annotated hv_init_clocksource()

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A kernel panic can occur if a module attempts to access a freed initialization symbol, causing a denial of service.

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

What is CVE-2022-49726?

CVE-2022-49726 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:

clocksource: hyper-v: unexport __init-annotated hv_init_clocksource()

EXPORT_SYMBOL and __init is a bad combination because the .init.text section is freed up after the initialization. Hence, modules cannot use symbols annotated __init. The access to a freed symbol may end up with kernel panic.

modpost used to detect it, but it has been broken for a decade.

Recently, I fixed modpost so it started to warn it again, then this showed up in linux-next builds.

There are two ways to fix it:

- Remove __init - Remove EXPORT_SYMBOL

I chose the latter for this case because the only in-tree call-site, arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mshyperv.c is never compiled as modular. (CONFIG_HYPERVISOR_GUEST is boolean)

Weakness: CWE-908

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49726?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49726?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-49726 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49726 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49726, GHSA-3pj9-hhgf-f53q, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49726.

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