CVE-2022-49840 bpf, test_run: Fix alignment problem in bpf_prog_test_run_skb()

What is CVE-2022-49840?

CVE-2022-49840 is a high-severity use after free 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:

bpf, test_run: Fix alignment problem in bpf_prog_test_run_skb()

We got a syzkaller problem because of aarch64 alignment fault if KFENCE enabled. When the size from user bpf program is an odd number, like 399, 407, etc, it will cause the struct skb_shared_info's unaligned access. As seen below:

BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free read in __skb_clone+0x23c/0x2a0 net/core/skbuff.c:1032

Use-after-free read at 0xffff6254fffac077 (in kfence-#213): __lse_atomic_add arch/arm64/include/asm/atomic_lse.h:26 [inline] arch_atomic_add arch/arm64/include/asm/atomic.h:28 [inline] arch_atomic_inc include/linux/atomic-arch-fallback.h:270 [inline] atomic_inc include/asm-generic/atomic-instrumented.h:241 [inline] __skb_clone+0x23c/0x2a0 net/core/skbuff.c:1032 skb_clone+0xf4/0x214 net/core/skbuff.c:1481 ____bpf_clone_redirect net/core/filter.c:2433 [inline] bpf_clone_redirect+0x78/0x1c0 net/core/filter.c:2420 bpf_prog_d3839dd9068ceb51+0x80/0x330 bpf_dispatcher_nop_func include/linux/bpf.h:728 [inline] bpf_test_run+0x3c0/0x6c0 net/bpf/test_run.c:53 bpf_prog_test_run_skb+0x638/0xa7c net/bpf/test_run.c:594 bpf_prog_test_run kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3148 [inline] __do_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4441 [inline] __se_sys_bpf+0xad0/0x1634 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4381

kfence-#213: 0xffff6254fffac000-0xffff6254fffac196, size=407, cache=kmalloc-512

allocated by task 15074 on cpu 0 at 1342.585390s: kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:568 [inline] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:675 [inline] bpf_test_init.isra.0+0xac/0x290 net/bpf/test_run.c:191 bpf_prog_test_run_skb+0x11c/0xa7c net/bpf/test_run.c:512 bpf_prog_test_run kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3148 [inline] __do_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4441 [inline] __se_sys_bpf+0xad0/0x1634 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4381 __arm64_sys_bpf+0x50/0x60 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4381

To fix the problem, we adjust @size so that (@size + @hearoom) is a multiple of SMP_CACHE_BYTES. So we make sure the struct skb_shared_info is aligned to a cache line.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49840?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49840?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2022-49840 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49840 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-2022-49840, GHSA-7crj-grwh-6247, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49840.