# CVE-2022-49891: tracing: kprobe: Fix memory leak in test_gen_kprobe/kretprobe_cmd()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's kprobe tracing module allows attackers to cause a denial of service by exhausting system memory.

- **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-2022-49891, GHSA-4g9q-6gcq-f3vx, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49891

## What is CVE-2022-49891?

CVE-2022-49891 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: kprobe: Fix memory leak in test_gen_kprobe/kretprobe_cmd()

test_gen_kprobe_cmd() only free buf in fail path, hence buf will leak
when there is no failure. Move kfree(buf) from fail path to common path
to prevent the memleak. The same reason and solution in
test_gen_kretprobe_cmd().

unreferenced object 0xffff888143b14000 (size 2048):
  comm "insmod", pid 52490, jiffies 4301890980 (age 40.553s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    70 3a 6b 70 72 6f 62 65 73 2f 67 65 6e 5f 6b 70  p:kprobes/gen_kp
    72 6f 62 65 5f 74 65 73 74 20 64 6f 5f 73 79 73  robe_test do_sys
  backtrace:
    [<000000006d7b836b>] kmalloc_trace+0x27/0xa0
    [<0000000009528b5b>] 0xffffffffa059006f
    [<000000008408b580>] do_one_initcall+0x87/0x2a0
    [<00000000c4980a7e>] do_init_module+0xdf/0x320
    [<00000000d775aad0>] load_module+0x3006/0x3390
    [<00000000e9a74b80>] __do_sys_finit_module+0x113/0x1b0
    [<000000003726480d>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80
    [<000000003441e93b>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49891?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49891?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49891 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49891 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-2022-49891 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49891 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49891 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-2022-49891/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49891/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49891
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49891
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49891

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49891/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.