# CVE-2022-50214: coresight: Clear the connection field properly > A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's coresight subsystem allows attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute code. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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-2022-50214, GHSA-c35q-x63g-2qfh, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50214 ## What is CVE-2022-50214? CVE-2022-50214 is a high-severity use after free 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: coresight: Clear the connection field properly coresight devices track their connections (output connections) and hold a reference to the fwnode. When a device goes away, we walk through the devices on the coresight bus and make sure that the references are dropped. This happens both ways: a) For all output connections from the device, drop the reference to the target device via coresight_release_platform_data() b) Iterate over all the devices on the coresight bus and drop the reference to fwnode if *this* device is the target of the output connection, via coresight_remove_conns()->coresight_remove_match(). However, the coresight_remove_match() doesn't clear the fwnode field, after dropping the reference, this causes use-after-free and additional refcount drops on the fwnode. e.g., if we have two devices, A and B, with a connection, A -> B. If we remove B first, B would clear the reference on B, from A via coresight_remove_match(). But when A is removed, it still has a connection with fwnode still pointing to B. Thus it tries to drops the reference in coresight_release_platform_data(), raising the bells like : [ 91.990153] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 91.990163] refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. [ 91.990212] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 461 at lib/refcount.c:25 refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990260] Modules linked in: coresight_funnel coresight_replicator coresight_etm4x(-) crct10dif_ce coresight ip_tables x_tables ipv6 [last unloaded: coresight_cpu_debug] [ 91.990398] CPU: 0 PID: 461 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G W T 5.19.0-rc2+ #53 [ 91.990418] Hardware name: ARM LTD ARM Juno Development Platform/ARM Juno Development Platform, BIOS EDK II Feb 1 2019 [ 91.990434] pstate: 600000c5 (nZCv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 91.990454] pc : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990476] lr : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990496] sp : ffff80000c843640 [ 91.990509] x29: ffff80000c843640 x28: ffff800009957c28 x27: ffff80000c8439a8 [ 91.990560] x26: ffff00097eff1990 x25: ffff8000092b6ad8 x24: ffff00097eff19a8 [ 91.990610] x23: ffff80000c8439a8 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffff80000c8439c2 [ 91.990659] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff00097eff1a10 x18: ffff80000ab99c40 [ 91.990708] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffff80000abf6fa0 [ 91.990756] x14: 000000000000001d x13: 0a2e656572662d72 x12: 657466612d657375 [ 91.990805] x11: 203b30206e6f206e x10: 6f69746964646120 x9 : ffff8000081aba28 [ 91.990854] x8 : 206e6f206e6f6974 x7 : 69646461203a745f x6 : 746e756f63666572 [ 91.990903] x5 : ffff00097648ec58 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000027 [ 91.990952] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff00080260ba00 [ 91.991000] Call trace: [ 91.991012] refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.991034] kobject_get+0xac/0xb0 [ 91.991055] of_node_get+0x2c/0x40 [ 91.991076] of_fwnode_get+0x40/0x60 [ 91.991094] fwnode_handle_get+0x3c/0x60 [ 91.991116] fwnode_get_nth_parent+0xf4/0x110 [ 91.991137] fwnode_full_name_string+0x48/0xc0 [ 91.991158] device_node_string+0x41c/0x530 [ 91.991178] pointer+0x320/0x3ec [ 91.991198] vsnprintf+0x23c/0x750 [ 91.991217] vprintk_store+0x104/0x4b0 [ 91.991238] vprintk_emit+0x8c/0x360 [ 91.991257] vprintk_default+0x44/0x50 [ 91.991276] vprintk+0xcc/0xf0 [ 91.991295] _printk+0x68/0x90 [ 91.991315] of_node_release+0x13c/0x14c [ 91.991334] kobject_put+0x98/0x114 [ 91.991354] of_node_put+0x24/0x34 [ 91.991372] of_fwnode_put+0x40/0x5c [ 91.991390] fwnode_handle_put+0x38/0x50 [ 91.991411] coresight_release_platform_data+0x74/0xb0 [coresight] [ 91.991472] coresight_unregister+0x64/0xcc [coresight] [ 91.991525] etm4_remove_dev+0x64/0x78 [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991563] etm4_remove_amba+0x1c/0x2c [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991598] amba_remove+0x3c/0x19c ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50214? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-50214? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-50214 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50214 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-2022-50214 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-50214 is a high-severity use after free 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-2022-50214 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-2022-50214/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50214/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50214 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50214 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50214 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50214/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.