CVE-2022-49936 USB: core: Prevent nested device-reset calls

What is CVE-2022-49936?

CVE-2022-49936 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Jun 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:

USB: core: Prevent nested device-reset calls

Automatic kernel fuzzing revealed a recursive locking violation in usb-storage:

============================================ WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 5.18.0 #3 Not tainted -------------------------------------------- kworker/1:3/1205 is trying to acquire lock: ffff888018638db8 (&us_interface_key[i]){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: usb_stor_pre_reset+0x35/0x40 drivers/usb/storage/usb.c:230

but task is already holding lock: ffff888018638db8 (&us_interface_key[i]){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: usb_stor_pre_reset+0x35/0x40 drivers/usb/storage/usb.c:230

...

stack backtrace: CPU: 1 PID: 1205 Comm: kworker/1:3 Not tainted 5.18.0 #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014 Workqueue: usb_hub_wq hub_event Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xcd/0x134 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_deadlock_bug kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2988 [inline] check_deadlock kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3031 [inline] validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3816 [inline] __lock_acquire.cold+0x152/0x3ca kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5053 lock_acquire kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5665 [inline] lock_acquire+0x1ab/0x520 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5630 __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:603 [inline] __mutex_lock+0x14f/0x1610 kernel/locking/mutex.c:747 usb_stor_pre_reset+0x35/0x40 drivers/usb/storage/usb.c:230 usb_reset_device+0x37d/0x9a0 drivers/usb/core/hub.c:6109 r871xu_dev_remove+0x21a/0x270 drivers/staging/rtl8712/usb_intf.c:622 usb_unbind_interface+0x1bd/0x890 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:458 device_remove drivers/base/dd.c:545 [inline] device_remove+0x11f/0x170 drivers/base/dd.c:537 __device_release_driver drivers/base/dd.c:1222 [inline] device_release_driver_internal+0x1a7/0x2f0 drivers/base/dd.c:1248 usb_driver_release_interface+0x102/0x180 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:627 usb_forced_unbind_intf+0x4d/0xa0 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:1118 usb_reset_device+0x39b/0x9a0 drivers/usb/core/hub.c:6114

This turned out not to be an error in usb-storage but rather a nested device reset attempt. That is, as the rtl8712 driver was being unbound from a composite device in preparation for an unrelated USB reset (that driver does not have pre_reset or post_reset callbacks), its ->remove routine called usb_reset_device() -- thus nesting one reset call within another.

Performing a reset as part of disconnect processing is a questionable practice at best. However, the bug report points out that the USB core does not have any protection against nested resets. Adding a reset_in_progress flag and testing it will prevent such errors in the future.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49936?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49936?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-49936 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49936 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-2022-49936, GHSA-2gg5-4wg8-wvxp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49936.