# CVE-2022-49960: drm/i915: fix null pointer dereference

> A null pointer dereference in the i915 graphics driver causes a kernel panic during boot on specific hardware, 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:** 18 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49960, GHSA-4m75-mg2m-9pf6, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49960

## What is CVE-2022-49960?

CVE-2022-49960 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:

drm/i915: fix null pointer dereference

Asus chromebook CX550 crashes during boot on v5.17-rc1 kernel.
The root cause is null pointer defeference of bi_next
in tgl_get_bw_info() in drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_bw.c.

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000002e
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G     U            5.17.0-rc1
Hardware name: Google Delbin/Delbin, BIOS Google_Delbin.13672.156.3 05/14/2021
RIP: 0010:tgl_get_bw_info+0x2de/0x510
...
[    2.554467] Call Trace:
[    2.554467]  <TASK>
[    2.554467]  intel_bw_init_hw+0x14a/0x434
[    2.554467]  ? _printk+0x59/0x73
[    2.554467]  ? _dev_err+0x77/0x91
[    2.554467]  i915_driver_hw_probe+0x329/0x33e
[    2.554467]  i915_driver_probe+0x4c8/0x638
[    2.554467]  i915_pci_probe+0xf8/0x14e
[    2.554467]  ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x12/0x2c
[    2.554467]  pci_device_probe+0xaa/0x142
[    2.554467]  really_probe+0x13f/0x2f4
[    2.554467]  __driver_probe_device+0x9e/0xd3
[    2.554467]  driver_probe_device+0x24/0x7c
[    2.554467]  __driver_attach+0xba/0xcf
[    2.554467]  ? driver_attach+0x1f/0x1f
[    2.554467]  bus_for_each_dev+0x8c/0xc0
[    2.554467]  bus_add_driver+0x11b/0x1f7
[    2.554467]  driver_register+0x60/0xea
[    2.554467]  ? mipi_dsi_bus_init+0x16/0x16
[    2.554467]  i915_init+0x2c/0xb9
[    2.554467]  ? mipi_dsi_bus_init+0x16/0x16
[    2.554467]  do_one_initcall+0x12e/0x2b3
[    2.554467]  do_initcall_level+0xd6/0xf3
[    2.554467]  do_initcalls+0x4e/0x79
[    2.554467]  kernel_init_freeable+0xed/0x14d
[    2.554467]  ? rest_init+0xc1/0xc1
[    2.554467]  kernel_init+0x1a/0x120
[    2.554467]  ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
[    2.554467]  </TASK>
...
Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

(cherry picked from commit c247cd03898c4c43c3bce6d4014730403bc13032)

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49960?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49960?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49960 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49960 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-2022-49960 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49960 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-2022-49960 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-2022-49960/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49960/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49960
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49960
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49960

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49960/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
