# CVE-2022-50261: drm/sti: Fix return type of sti_{dvo,hda,hdmi}_connector_mode_valid()

> Incorrect function return types in STI DRM drivers cause kernel panics when Control Flow Integrity is enabled, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 15 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50261, GHSA-578g-xfmh-7xmp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50261

## What is CVE-2022-50261?

CVE-2022-50261 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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/sti: Fix return type of sti_{dvo,hda,hdmi}_connector_mode_valid()

With clang's kernel control flow integrity (kCFI, CONFIG_CFI_CLANG),
indirect call targets are validated against the expected function
pointer prototype to make sure the call target is valid to help mitigate
ROP attacks. If they are not identical, there is a failure at run time,
which manifests as either a kernel panic or thread getting killed. A
proposed warning in clang aims to catch these at compile time, which
reveals:

  drivers/gpu/drm/sti/sti_hda.c:637:16: error: incompatible function pointer types initializing 'enum drm_mode_status (*)(struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' with an expression of type 'int (struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' [-Werror,-Wincompatible-function-pointer-types-strict]
          .mode_valid = sti_hda_connector_mode_valid,
                        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  drivers/gpu/drm/sti/sti_dvo.c:376:16: error: incompatible function pointer types initializing 'enum drm_mode_status (*)(struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' with an expression of type 'int (struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' [-Werror,-Wincompatible-function-pointer-types-strict]
          .mode_valid = sti_dvo_connector_mode_valid,
                        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  drivers/gpu/drm/sti/sti_hdmi.c:1035:16: error: incompatible function pointer types initializing 'enum drm_mode_status (*)(struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' with an expression of type 'int (struct drm_connector *, struct drm_display_mode *)' [-Werror,-Wincompatible-function-pointer-types-strict]
          .mode_valid = sti_hdmi_connector_mode_valid,
                        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

->mode_valid() in 'struct drm_connector_helper_funcs' expects a return
type of 'enum drm_mode_status', not 'int'. Adjust the return type of
sti_{dvo,hda,hdmi}_connector_mode_valid() to match the prototype's to
resolve the warning and CFI failure.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50261?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50261?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50261 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50261 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-2022-50261 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50261 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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-2022-50261 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-2022-50261/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50261/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50261
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50261
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50261

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50261/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.