CVE-2022-49767 9p/trans_fd: always use O_NONBLOCK read/write

What is CVE-2022-49767?

CVE-2022-49767 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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:

9p/trans_fd: always use O_NONBLOCK read/write

syzbot is reporting hung task at p9_fd_close() [1], for p9_mux_poll_stop() from p9_conn_destroy() from p9_fd_close() is failing to interrupt already started kernel_read() from p9_fd_read() from p9_read_work() and/or kernel_write() from p9_fd_write() from p9_write_work() requests.

Since p9_socket_open() sets O_NONBLOCK flag, p9_mux_poll_stop() does not need to interrupt kernel_read()/kernel_write(). However, since p9_fd_open() does not set O_NONBLOCK flag, but pipe blocks unless signal is pending, p9_mux_poll_stop() needs to interrupt kernel_read()/kernel_write() when the file descriptor refers to a pipe. In other words, pipe file descriptor needs to be handled as if socket file descriptor.

We somehow need to interrupt kernel_read()/kernel_write() on pipes.

A minimal change, which this patch is doing, is to set O_NONBLOCK flag from p9_fd_open(), for O_NONBLOCK flag does not affect reading/writing of regular files. But this approach changes O_NONBLOCK flag on userspace- supplied file descriptors (which might break userspace programs), and O_NONBLOCK flag could be changed by userspace. It would be possible to set O_NONBLOCK flag every time p9_fd_read()/p9_fd_write() is invoked, but still remains small race window for clearing O_NONBLOCK flag.

If we don't want to manipulate O_NONBLOCK flag, we might be able to surround kernel_read()/kernel_write() with set_thread_flag(TIF_SIGPENDING) and recalc_sigpending(). Since p9_read_work()/p9_write_work() works are processed by kernel threads which process global system_wq workqueue, signals could not be delivered from remote threads when p9_mux_poll_stop() from p9_conn_destroy() from p9_fd_close() is called. Therefore, calling set_thread_flag(TIF_SIGPENDING)/recalc_sigpending() every time would be needed if we count on signals for making kernel_read()/kernel_write() non-blocking.

[Dominique: add comment at Christian's suggestion]

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49767?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49767?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2022-49767 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49767 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49767, GHSA-cfgj-2h5j-cvp7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49767.