# CVE-2022-50159: of: check previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer against memory bounds

> A missing memory bounds check in the Linux kernel IMA kexec buffer handling allows a local attacker to cause a kernel panic via specific boot arguments.

- **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-2022-50159, GHSA-gjjr-vrfh-q64m, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-50159, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50159

## What is CVE-2022-50159?

CVE-2022-50159 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:

of: check previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer against memory bounds

Presently ima_get_kexec_buffer() doesn't check if the previous kernel's
ima-kexec-buffer lies outside the addressable memory range. This can result
in a kernel panic if the new kernel is booted with 'mem=X' arg and the
ima-kexec-buffer was allocated beyond that range by the previous kernel.
The panic is usually of the form below:

$ sudo kexec --initrd initrd vmlinux --append='mem=16G'

<snip>
 BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on read at 0xc000c01fff7f0000
 Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000000837974
 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
<snip>
 NIP [c000000000837974] ima_restore_measurement_list+0x94/0x6c0
 LR [c00000000083b55c] ima_load_kexec_buffer+0xac/0x160
 Call Trace:
 [c00000000371fa80] [c00000000083b55c] ima_load_kexec_buffer+0xac/0x160
 [c00000000371fb00] [c0000000020512c4] ima_init+0x80/0x108
 [c00000000371fb70] [c0000000020514dc] init_ima+0x4c/0x120
 [c00000000371fbf0] [c000000000012240] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x2c0
 [c00000000371fcc0] [c000000002004ad0] kernel_init_freeable+0x344/0x3ec
 [c00000000371fda0] [c0000000000128a4] kernel_init+0x34/0x1b0
 [c00000000371fe10] [c00000000000ce64] ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64
 Instruction dump:
 f92100b8 f92100c0 90e10090 910100a0 4182050c 282a0017 3bc00000 40810330
 7c0802a6 fb610198 7c9b2378 f80101d0 <a1240000> 2c090001 40820614 e9240010
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

Fix this issue by checking returned PFN range of previous kernel's
ima-kexec-buffer with page_is_ram() to ensure correct memory bounds.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50159?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50159?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50159 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50159 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-2022-50159 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50159 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-2022-50159 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-2022-50159/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50159/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50159
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50159
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50159

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50159/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.