# CVE-2022-49869: bnxt_en: Fix possible crash in bnxt_hwrm_set_coal()

> A null pointer dereference in the bnxt_en network driver during error recovery can cause a kernel crash, 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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49869, GHSA-c7jg-hhpr-v5pq, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49869

## What is CVE-2022-49869?

CVE-2022-49869 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:

bnxt_en: Fix possible crash in bnxt_hwrm_set_coal()

During the error recovery sequence, the rtnl_lock is not held for the
entire duration and some datastructures may be freed during the sequence.
Check for the BNXT_STATE_OPEN flag instead of netif_running() to ensure
that the device is fully operational before proceeding to reconfigure
the coalescing settings.

This will fix a possible crash like this:

BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000000
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
CPU: 10 PID: 181276 Comm: ethtool Kdump: loaded Tainted: G          IOE    --------- -  - 4.18.0-348.el8.x86_64 #1
Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R740/0F9N89, BIOS 2.3.10 08/15/2019
RIP: 0010:bnxt_hwrm_set_coal+0x1fb/0x2a0 [bnxt_en]
Code: c2 66 83 4e 22 08 66 89 46 1c e8 10 cb 00 00 41 83 c6 01 44 39 b3 68 01 00 00 0f 8e a3 00 00 00 48 8b 93 c8 00 00 00 49 63 c6 <48> 8b 2c c2 48 8b 85 b8 02 00 00 48 85 c0 74 2e 48 8b 74 24 08 f6
RSP: 0018:ffffb11c8dcaba50 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8d168a8b0ac0 RCX: 00000000000000c5
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff8d162f72c000 RDI: ffff8d168a8b0b28
RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: b6e1f68a12e9a7eb R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000037 R12: ffff8d168a8b109c
R13: ffff8d168a8b10aa R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffffffc01ac4e0
FS:  00007f3852e4c740(0000) GS:ffff8d24c0080000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 000000041b3ee003 CR4: 00000000007706e0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
 ethnl_set_coalesce+0x3ce/0x4c0
 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.15+0x10f/0x150
 genl_family_rcv_msg+0xb3/0x160
 ? coalesce_fill_reply+0x480/0x480
 genl_rcv_msg+0x47/0x90
 ? genl_family_rcv_msg+0x160/0x160
 netlink_rcv_skb+0x4c/0x120
 genl_rcv+0x24/0x40
 netlink_unicast+0x196/0x230
 netlink_sendmsg+0x204/0x3d0
 sock_sendmsg+0x4c/0x50
 __sys_sendto+0xee/0x160
 ? syscall_trace_enter+0x1d3/0x2c0
 ? __audit_syscall_exit+0x249/0x2a0
 __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30
 do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x1a0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x65/0xca
RIP: 0033:0x7f38524163bb

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49869?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49869?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49869 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49869 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-2022-49869 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49869 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-2022-49869 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-2022-49869/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49869/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49869
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49869
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49869

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49869/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.