# CVE-2022-49781: perf/x86/amd: Fix crash due to race between amd_pmu_enable_all, perf NMI and throttling

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's AMD performance monitoring unit can cause a kernel crash, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 1 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49781, GHSA-76hj-mcwf-qj3w, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781

## What is CVE-2022-49781?

CVE-2022-49781 is a medium-severity 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:

perf/x86/amd: Fix crash due to race between amd_pmu_enable_all, perf NMI and throttling

amd_pmu_enable_all() does:

      if (!test_bit(idx, cpuc->active_mask))
              continue;

      amd_pmu_enable_event(cpuc->events[idx]);

A perf NMI of another event can come between these two steps. Perf NMI
handler internally disables and enables _all_ events, including the one
which nmi-intercepted amd_pmu_enable_all() was in process of enabling.
If that unintentionally enabled event has very low sampling period and
causes immediate successive NMI, causing the event to be throttled,
cpuc->events[idx] and cpuc->active_mask gets cleared by x86_pmu_stop().
This will result in amd_pmu_enable_event() getting called with event=NULL
when amd_pmu_enable_all() resumes after handling the NMIs. This causes a
kernel crash:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000198
  #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
  [...]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   amd_pmu_enable_all+0x68/0xb0
   ctx_resched+0xd9/0x150
   event_function+0xb8/0x130
   ? hrtimer_start_range_ns+0x141/0x4a0
   ? perf_duration_warn+0x30/0x30
   remote_function+0x4d/0x60
   __flush_smp_call_function_queue+0xc4/0x500
   flush_smp_call_function_queue+0x11d/0x1b0
   do_idle+0x18f/0x2d0
   cpu_startup_entry+0x19/0x20
   start_secondary+0x121/0x160
   secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0xe5/0xeb
   </TASK>

amd_pmu_disable_all()/amd_pmu_enable_all() calls inside perf NMI handler
were recently added as part of BRS enablement but I'm not sure whether
we really need them. We can just disable BRS in the beginning and enable
it back while returning from NMI. This will solve the issue by not
enabling those events whose active_masks are set but are not yet enabled
in hw pmu.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49781?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49781?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49781 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49781 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-2022-49781 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49781 is a medium-severity 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49781 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-2022-49781/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49781/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49781
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49781
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49781

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49781/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.