CVE-2022-50148 kernfs: fix potential NULL dereference in __kernfs_remove

What is CVE-2022-50148?

CVE-2022-50148 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:

kernfs: fix potential NULL dereference in __kernfs_remove

When lockdep is enabled, lockdep_assert_held_write would cause potential NULL pointer dereference.

Fix the following smatch warnings:

fs/kernfs/dir.c:1353 __kernfs_remove() warn: variable dereferenced before check 'kn' (see line 1346)

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50148?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-50148?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-50148 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50148 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-2022-50148, GHSA-r3cx-wcp6-7g33, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50148.