CVE-2022-49788 misc/vmw_vmci: fix an infoleak in vmci_host_do_receive_datagram()
A local attacker can read uninitialized kernel memory via the VMCI host driver, potentially exposing sensitive data.
- 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-2022-49788?
CVE-2022-49788 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:
misc/vmw_vmci: fix an infoleak in vmci_host_do_receive_datagram()
`struct vmci_event_qp` allocated by qp_notify_peer() contains padding, which may carry uninitialized data to the userspace, as observed by KMSAN:
BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in instrument_copy_to_user ./include/linux/instrumented.h:121 instrument_copy_to_user ./include/linux/instrumented.h:121 _copy_to_user+0x5f/0xb0 lib/usercopy.c:33 copy_to_user ./include/linux/uaccess.h:169 vmci_host_do_receive_datagram drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_host.c:431 vmci_host_unlocked_ioctl+0x33d/0x43d0 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_host.c:925 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 ...
Uninit was stored to memory at: kmemdup+0x74/0xb0 mm/util.c:131 dg_dispatch_as_host drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_datagram.c:271 vmci_datagram_dispatch+0x4f8/0xfc0 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_datagram.c:339 qp_notify_peer+0x19a/0x290 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1479 qp_broker_attach drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1662 qp_broker_alloc+0x2977/0x2f30 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1750 vmci_qp_broker_alloc+0x96/0xd0 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1940 vmci_host_do_alloc_queuepair drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_host.c:488 vmci_host_unlocked_ioctl+0x24fd/0x43d0 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_host.c:927 ...
Local variable ev created at: qp_notify_peer+0x54/0x290 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1456 qp_broker_attach drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1662 qp_broker_alloc+0x2977/0x2f30 drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmci_queue_pair.c:1750
Bytes 28-31 of 48 are uninitialized Memory access of size 48 starts at ffff888035155e00 Data copied to user address 0000000020000100
Use memset() to prevent the infoleaks.
Also speculatively fix qp_notify_peer_local(), which may suffer from the same problem.
Weakness: CWE-908
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49788?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-49788?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2022-49788 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49788 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49788, GHSA-65f7-9jmg-75c7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49788.