# CVE-2022-49948: vt: Clear selection before changing the font

> A local attacker can trigger out-of-bounds memory access in the Linux kernel console by changing fonts while a selection is active, potentially causing a crash or leaking memory.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49948, GHSA-r6pw-rw8p-5cr9, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49948

## What is CVE-2022-49948?

CVE-2022-49948 is a high-severity memory corruption 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:

vt: Clear selection before changing the font

When changing the console font with ioctl(KDFONTOP) the new font size
can be bigger than the previous font. A previous selection may thus now
be outside of the new screen size and thus trigger out-of-bounds
accesses to graphics memory if the selection is removed in
vc_do_resize().

Prevent such out-of-memory accesses by dropping the selection before the
various con_font_set() console handlers are called.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49948?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49948?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49948 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49948 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-2022-49948 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49948 is a high-severity memory corruption 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-2022-49948 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-2022-49948/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49948/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49948
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49948
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49948

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49948/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.