# CVE-2022-50008: kprobes: don't call disarm_kprobe() for disabled kprobes

> A local attacker can trigger an infinite loop in the Linux kernel kprobes subsystem, causing a system hang or 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-2022-50008, GHSA-q44m-58pc-8rr7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50008

## What is CVE-2022-50008?

CVE-2022-50008 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

kprobes: don't call disarm_kprobe() for disabled kprobes

The assumption in __disable_kprobe() is wrong, and it could try to disarm
an already disarmed kprobe and fire the WARN_ONCE() below. [0]  We can
easily reproduce this issue.

1. Write 0 to /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/enabled.

  # echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/enabled

2. Run execsnoop.  At this time, one kprobe is disabled.

  # /usr/share/bcc/tools/execsnoop &
  [1] 2460
  PCOMM            PID    PPID   RET ARGS

  # cat /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/list
  ffffffff91345650  r  __x64_sys_execve+0x0    [FTRACE]
  ffffffff91345650  k  __x64_sys_execve+0x0    [DISABLED][FTRACE]

3. Write 1 to /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/enabled, which changes
   kprobes_all_disarmed to false but does not arm the disabled kprobe.

  # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/enabled

  # cat /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/list
  ffffffff91345650  r  __x64_sys_execve+0x0    [FTRACE]
  ffffffff91345650  k  __x64_sys_execve+0x0    [DISABLED][FTRACE]

4. Kill execsnoop, when __disable_kprobe() calls disarm_kprobe() for the
   disabled kprobe and hits the WARN_ONCE() in __disarm_kprobe_ftrace().

  # fg
  /usr/share/bcc/tools/execsnoop
  ^C

Actually, WARN_ONCE() is fired twice, and __unregister_kprobe_top() misses
some cleanups and leaves the aggregated kprobe in the hash table.  Then,
__unregister_trace_kprobe() initialises tk->rp.kp.list and creates an
infinite loop like this.

  aggregated kprobe.list -> kprobe.list -.
                                     ^    |
                                     '.__.'

In this situation, these commands fall into the infinite loop and result
in RCU stall or soft lockup.

  cat /sys/kernel/debug/kprobes/list : show_kprobe_addr() enters into the
                                       infinite loop with RCU.

  /usr/share/bcc/tools/execsnoop : warn_kprobe_rereg() holds kprobe_mutex,
                                   and __get_valid_kprobe() is stuck in
				   the loop.

To avoid the issue, make sure we don't call disarm_kprobe() for disabled
kprobes.

[0]
Failed to disarm kprobe-ftrace at __x64_sys_execve+0x0/0x40 (error -2)
WARNING: CPU: 6 PID: 2460 at kernel/kprobes.c:1130 __disarm_kprobe_ftrace.isra.19 (kernel/kprobes.c:1129)
Modules linked in: ena
CPU: 6 PID: 2460 Comm: execsnoop Not tainted 5.19.0+ #28
Hardware name: Amazon EC2 c5.2xlarge/, BIOS 1.0 10/16/2017
RIP: 0010:__disarm_kprobe_ftrace.isra.19 (kernel/kprobes.c:1129)
Code: 24 8b 02 eb c1 80 3d c4 83 f2 01 00 75 d4 48 8b 75 00 89 c2 48 c7 c7 90 fa 0f 92 89 04 24 c6 05 ab 83 01 e8 e4 94 f0 ff <0f> 0b 8b 04 24 eb b1 89 c6 48 c7 c7 60 fa 0f 92 89 04 24 e8 cc 94
RSP: 0018:ffff9e6ec154bd98 EFLAGS: 00010282
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffff930f7b00 RCX: 0000000000000001
RDX: 0000000080000001 RSI: ffffffff921461c5 RDI: 00000000ffffffff
RBP: ffff89c504286da8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: c0000000fffeffff
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffff9e6ec154bc28 R12: ffff89c502394e40
R13: ffff89c502394c00 R14: ffff9e6ec154bc00 R15: 0000000000000000
FS:  00007fe800398740(0000) GS:ffff89c812d80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 000000c00057f010 CR3: 0000000103b54006 CR4: 00000000007706e0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
<TASK>
 __disable_kprobe (kernel/kprobes.c:1716)
 disable_kprobe (kernel/kprobes.c:2392)
 __disable_trace_kprobe (kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c:340)
 disable_trace_kprobe (kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c:429)
 perf_trace_event_unreg.isra.2 (./include/linux/tracepoint.h:93 kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c:168)
 perf_kprobe_destroy (kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c:295)
 _free_event (kernel/events/core.c:4971)
 perf_event_release_kernel (kernel/events/core.c:5176)
 perf_release (kernel/events/core.c:5186)
 __fput (fs/file_table.c:321)
 task_work_run (./include/linux/
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50008?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50008?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50008 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50008 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-2022-50008 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50008 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2022-50008 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-2022-50008/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50008/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50008
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50008
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50008

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50008/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
