# CVE-2022-49992: mm/mprotect: only reference swap pfn page if type match

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash via mprotect by causing a null pointer dereference in swap entry handling.

- **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-2022-49992, GHSA-5mfc-rx34-wgrh, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49992

## What is CVE-2022-49992?

CVE-2022-49992 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:

mm/mprotect: only reference swap pfn page if type match

Yu Zhao reported a bug after the commit "mm/swap: Add swp_offset_pfn() to
fetch PFN from swap entry" added a check in swp_offset_pfn() for swap type [1]:

  kernel BUG at include/linux/swapops.h:117!
  CPU: 46 PID: 5245 Comm: EventManager_De Tainted: G S         O L 6.0.0-dbg-DEV #2
  RIP: 0010:pfn_swap_entry_to_page+0x72/0xf0
  Code: c6 48 8b 36 48 83 fe ff 74 53 48 01 d1 48 83 c1 08 48 8b 09 f6
  c1 01 75 7b 66 90 48 89 c1 48 8b 09 f6 c1 01 74 74 5d c3 eb 9e <0f> 0b
  48 ba ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 eb ae a9 ff 0f 00 00 75 13 48
  RSP: 0018:ffffa59e73fabb80 EFLAGS: 00010282
  RAX: 00000000ffffffe8 RBX: 0c00000000000000 RCX: ffffcd5440000000
  RDX: 1ffffffffff7a80a RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0c0000000000042b
  RBP: ffffa59e73fabb80 R08: ffff9965ca6e8bb8 R09: 0000000000000000
  R10: ffffffffa5a2f62d R11: 0000030b372e9fff R12: ffff997b79db5738
  R13: 000000000000042b R14: 0c0000000000042b R15: 1ffffffffff7a80a
  FS:  00007f549d1bb700(0000) GS:ffff99d3cf680000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 0000440d035b3180 CR3: 0000002243176004 CR4: 00000000003706e0
  DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
  DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   change_pte_range+0x36e/0x880
   change_p4d_range+0x2e8/0x670
   change_protection_range+0x14e/0x2c0
   mprotect_fixup+0x1ee/0x330
   do_mprotect_pkey+0x34c/0x440
   __x64_sys_mprotect+0x1d/0x30

It triggers because pfn_swap_entry_to_page() could be called upon e.g. a
genuine swap entry.

Fix it by only calling it when it's a write migration entry where the page*
is used.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAOUHufaVC2Za-p8m0aiHw6YkheDcrO-C3wRGixwDS32VTS+k1w@mail.gmail.com/

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49992?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49992?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49992 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-2022-49992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49992 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-2022-49992 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-2022-49992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49992

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.