CVE-2022-50278 PNP: fix name memory leak in pnp_alloc_dev()

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A memory leak in the Linux kernel PNP subsystem can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service.

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

What is CVE-2022-50278?

CVE-2022-50278 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

PNP: fix name memory leak in pnp_alloc_dev()

After commit 1fa5ae857bb1 ("driver core: get rid of struct device's bus_id string array"), the name of device is allocated dynamically, move dev_set_name() after pnp_add_id() to avoid memory leak.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50278?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-50278?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2022-50278 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50278 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50278, GHSA-fj56-2h43-2hcw, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50278.

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