# CVE-2022-49801: tracing: Fix memory leak in tracing_read_pipe()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's tracing subsystem allows attackers to exhaust system memory, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49801, GHSA-q725-94pj-f5xx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-49801, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49801

## What is CVE-2022-49801?

CVE-2022-49801 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:

tracing: Fix memory leak in tracing_read_pipe()

kmemleak reports this issue:

unreferenced object 0xffff888105a18900 (size 128):
  comm "test_progs", pid 18933, jiffies 4336275356 (age 22801.766s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    25 73 00 90 81 88 ff ff 26 05 00 00 42 01 58 04  %s......&...B.X.
    03 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  backtrace:
    [<00000000560143a1>] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x4a/0x140
    [<000000006af00822>] krealloc+0x8d/0xf0
    [<00000000c309be6a>] trace_iter_expand_format+0x99/0x150
    [<000000005a53bdb6>] trace_check_vprintf+0x1e0/0x11d0
    [<0000000065629d9d>] trace_event_printf+0xb6/0xf0
    [<000000009a690dc7>] trace_raw_output_bpf_trace_printk+0x89/0xc0
    [<00000000d22db172>] print_trace_line+0x73c/0x1480
    [<00000000cdba76ba>] tracing_read_pipe+0x45c/0x9f0
    [<0000000015b58459>] vfs_read+0x17b/0x7c0
    [<000000004aeee8ed>] ksys_read+0xed/0x1c0
    [<0000000063d3d898>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
    [<00000000a06dda7f>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

iter->fmt alloced in
  tracing_read_pipe() -> .. ->trace_iter_expand_format(), but not
freed, to fix, add free in tracing_release_pipe()

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49801?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49801?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49801 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49801 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-2022-49801 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49801 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49801 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-2022-49801/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49801/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49801
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49801
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49801

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49801/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.