# CVE-2022-50173: drm/msm/mdp5: Fix global state lock backoff

> A race condition in the Linux kernel MSM display driver can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service due to improper lock handling.

- **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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50173, GHSA-mxqg-5wmf-7c29, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50173

## What is CVE-2022-50173?

CVE-2022-50173 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:

drm/msm/mdp5: Fix global state lock backoff

We need to grab the lock after the early return for !hwpipe case.
Otherwise, we could have hit contention yet still returned 0.

Fixes an issue that the new CONFIG_DRM_DEBUG_MODESET_LOCK stuff flagged
in CI:

   WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 282 at drivers/gpu/drm/drm_modeset_lock.c:296 drm_modeset_lock+0xf8/0x154
   Modules linked in:
   CPU: 0 PID: 282 Comm: kms_cursor_lega Tainted: G        W         5.19.0-rc2-15930-g875cc8bc536a #1
   Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. DB820c (DT)
   pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
   pc : drm_modeset_lock+0xf8/0x154
   lr : drm_atomic_get_private_obj_state+0x84/0x170
   sp : ffff80000cfab6a0
   x29: ffff80000cfab6a0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff000083bc4d00
   x26: 0000000000000038 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: ffff80000957ca58
   x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffff000081ace080 x21: 0000000000000001
   x20: ffff000081acec18 x19: ffff80000cfabb80 x18: 0000000000000038
   x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: fffffffffffea0d0
   x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 284e4f5f4e524157 x12: 5f534b434f4c5f47
   x11: ffff80000a386aa8 x10: 0000000000000029 x9 : ffff80000cfab610
   x8 : 0000000000000029 x7 : 0000000000000014 x6 : 0000000000000000
   x5 : 0000000000000001 x4 : ffff8000081ad904 x3 : 0000000000000029
   x2 : ffff0000801db4c0 x1 : ffff80000cfabb80 x0 : ffff000081aceb58
   Call trace:
    drm_modeset_lock+0xf8/0x154
    drm_atomic_get_private_obj_state+0x84/0x170
    mdp5_get_global_state+0x54/0x6c
    mdp5_pipe_release+0x2c/0xd4
    mdp5_plane_atomic_check+0x2ec/0x414
    drm_atomic_helper_check_planes+0xd8/0x210
    drm_atomic_helper_check+0x54/0xb0
    ...
   ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
   drm_modeset_lock attempting to lock a contended lock without backoff:
      drm_modeset_lock+0x148/0x154
      mdp5_get_global_state+0x30/0x6c
      mdp5_pipe_release+0x2c/0xd4
      mdp5_plane_atomic_check+0x290/0x414
      drm_atomic_helper_check_planes+0xd8/0x210
      drm_atomic_helper_check+0x54/0xb0
      drm_atomic_check_only+0x4b0/0x8f4
      drm_atomic_commit+0x68/0xe0

Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/492701/

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50173?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50173?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50173 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50173 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-2022-50173 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50173 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50173 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-2022-50173/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50173/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50173
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50173
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50173

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50173/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.