# CVE-2022-49947: binder: fix alloc->vma_vm_mm null-ptr dereference

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel binder driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash via specific ioctl calls.

- **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:** 18 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49947, GHSA-4hg9-w486-7gv5, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49947

## What is CVE-2022-49947?

CVE-2022-49947 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:

binder: fix alloc->vma_vm_mm null-ptr dereference

Syzbot reported a couple issues introduced by commit 44e602b4e52f
("binder_alloc: add missing mmap_lock calls when using the VMA"), in
which we attempt to acquire the mmap_lock when alloc->vma_vm_mm has not
been initialized yet.

This can happen if a binder_proc receives a transaction without having
previously called mmap() to setup the binder_proc->alloc space in [1].
Also, a similar issue occurs via binder_alloc_print_pages() when we try
to dump the debugfs binder stats file in [2].

Sample of syzbot's crash report:
  ==================================================================
  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000128-0x000000000000012f]
  CPU: 0 PID: 3755 Comm: syz-executor229 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc1-next-20220819-syzkaller #0
  syz-executor229[3755] cmdline: ./syz-executor2294415195
  Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/22/2022
  RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0xd83/0x56d0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4923
  [...]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   lock_acquire kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5666 [inline]
   lock_acquire+0x1ab/0x570 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5631
   down_read+0x98/0x450 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1499
   mmap_read_lock include/linux/mmap_lock.h:117 [inline]
   binder_alloc_new_buf_locked drivers/android/binder_alloc.c:405 [inline]
   binder_alloc_new_buf+0xa5/0x19e0 drivers/android/binder_alloc.c:593
   binder_transaction+0x242e/0x9a80 drivers/android/binder.c:3199
   binder_thread_write+0x664/0x3220 drivers/android/binder.c:3986
   binder_ioctl_write_read drivers/android/binder.c:5036 [inline]
   binder_ioctl+0x3470/0x6d00 drivers/android/binder.c:5323
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x193/0x200 fs/ioctl.c:856
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
   [...]
  ==================================================================

Fix these issues by setting up alloc->vma_vm_mm pointer during open()
and caching directly from current->mm. This guarantees we have a valid
reference to take the mmap_lock during scenarios described above.

[1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=f7dc54e5be28950ac459
[2] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=a75ebe0452711c9e56d9

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49947?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49947?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49947 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49947 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-2022-49947 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49947 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49947 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-2022-49947/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49947/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49947
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49947
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49947

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49947/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.