CVE-2022-49995 writeback: avoid use-after-free after removing device

What is CVE-2022-49995?

CVE-2022-49995 is a high-severity use after free 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:

writeback: avoid use-after-free after removing device

When a disk is removed, bdi_unregister gets called to stop further writeback and wait for associated delayed work to complete. However, wb_inode_writeback_end() may schedule bandwidth estimation dwork after this has completed, which can result in the timer attempting to access the just freed bdi_writeback.

Fix this by checking if the bdi_writeback is alive, similar to when scheduling writeback work.

Since this requires wb->work_lock, and wb_inode_writeback_end() may get called from interrupt, switch wb->work_lock to an irqsafe lock.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49995?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49995?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2022-49995 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49995 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-2022-49995, GHSA-cw67-vp4w-w46p, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49995.