CVE-2022-50103 sched, cpuset: Fix dl_cpu_busy() panic due to empty cs->cpus_allowed
A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic via cgroup v2 cpuset operations, causing a denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2022-50103?
CVE-2022-50103 is a high-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:
sched, cpuset: Fix dl_cpu_busy() panic due to empty cs->cpus_allowed
With cgroup v2, the cpuset's cpus_allowed mask can be empty indicating that the cpuset will just use the effective CPUs of its parent. So cpuset_can_attach() can call task_can_attach() with an empty mask. This can lead to cpumask_any_and() returns nr_cpu_ids causing the call to dl_bw_of() to crash due to percpu value access of an out of bound CPU value. For example:
[80468.182258] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffff8b6648b0 : [80468.191019] RIP: 0010:dl_cpu_busy+0x30/0x2b0 : [80468.207946] Call Trace: [80468.208947] cpuset_can_attach+0xa0/0x140 [80468.209953] cgroup_migrate_execute+0x8c/0x490 [80468.210931] cgroup_update_dfl_csses+0x254/0x270 [80468.211898] cgroup_subtree_control_write+0x322/0x400 [80468.212854] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11c/0x1b0 [80468.213777] new_sync_write+0x11f/0x1b0 [80468.214689] vfs_write+0x1eb/0x280 [80468.215592] ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 [80468.216463] do_syscall_64+0x5c/0x80 [80468.224287] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
Fix that by using effective_cpus instead. For cgroup v1, effective_cpus is the same as cpus_allowed. For v2, effective_cpus is the real cpumask to be used by tasks within the cpuset anyway.
Also update task_can_attach()'s 2nd argument name to cs_effective_cpus to reflect the change. In addition, a check is added to task_can_attach() to guard against the possibility that cpumask_any_and() may return a value >= nr_cpu_ids.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50103?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-50103?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2022-50103 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50103 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50103, GHSA-33j2-rmf2-wf3v, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50103.