CVE-2022-49800 tracing: Fix memory leak in test_gen_synth_cmd() and test_empty_synth_event()
A memory leak in Linux kernel tracing test functions allows attackers to exhaust system memory, potentially causing 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-2022-49800?
CVE-2022-49800 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:
tracing: Fix memory leak in test_gen_synth_cmd() and test_empty_synth_event()
test_gen_synth_cmd() only free buf in fail path, hence buf will leak when there is no failure. Add kfree(buf) to prevent the memleak. The same reason and solution in test_empty_synth_event().
unreferenced object 0xffff8881127de000 (size 2048): comm "modprobe", pid 247, jiffies 4294972316 (age 78.756s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 20 67 65 6e 5f 73 79 6e 74 68 5f 74 65 73 74 20 gen_synth_test 20 70 69 64 5f 74 20 6e 65 78 74 5f 70 69 64 5f pid_t next_pid_ backtrace: [<000000004254801a>] kmalloc_trace+0x26/0x100 [<0000000039eb1cf5>] 0xffffffffa00083cd [<000000000e8c3bc8>] 0xffffffffa00086ba [<00000000c293d1ea>] do_one_initcall+0xdb/0x480 [<00000000aa189e6d>] do_init_module+0x1cf/0x680 [<00000000d513222b>] load_module+0x6a50/0x70a0 [<000000001fd4d529>] __do_sys_finit_module+0x12f/0x1c0 [<00000000b36c4c0f>] do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90 [<00000000bbf20cf3>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd unreferenced object 0xffff8881127df000 (size 2048): comm "modprobe", pid 247, jiffies 4294972324 (age 78.728s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 20 65 6d 70 74 79 5f 73 79 6e 74 68 5f 74 65 73 empty_synth_tes 74 20 20 70 69 64 5f 74 20 6e 65 78 74 5f 70 69 t pid_t next_pi backtrace: [<000000004254801a>] kmalloc_trace+0x26/0x100 [<00000000d4db9a3d>] 0xffffffffa0008071 [<00000000c31354a5>] 0xffffffffa00086ce [<00000000c293d1ea>] do_one_initcall+0xdb/0x480 [<00000000aa189e6d>] do_init_module+0x1cf/0x680 [<00000000d513222b>] load_module+0x6a50/0x70a0 [<000000001fd4d529>] __do_sys_finit_module+0x12f/0x1c0 [<00000000b36c4c0f>] do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90 [<00000000bbf20cf3>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49800?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-49800?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2022-49800 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49800 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49800, GHSA-8v6j-v3r3-p944, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49800.