# CVE-2022-50282: chardev: fix error handling in cdev_device_add()

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's chardev error handling can cause a system crash when device registration fails.

- **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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50282, GHSA-3mx8-688w-x5vh, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50282

## What is CVE-2022-50282?

CVE-2022-50282 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:

chardev: fix error handling in cdev_device_add()

While doing fault injection test, I got the following report:

------------[ cut here ]------------
kobject: '(null)' (0000000039956980): is not initialized, yet kobject_put() is being called.
WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 6306 at kobject_put+0x23d/0x4e0
CPU: 3 PID: 6306 Comm: 283 Tainted: G        W          6.1.0-rc2-00005-g307c1086d7c9 #1253
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:kobject_put+0x23d/0x4e0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 cdev_device_add+0x15e/0x1b0
 __iio_device_register+0x13b4/0x1af0 [industrialio]
 __devm_iio_device_register+0x22/0x90 [industrialio]
 max517_probe+0x3d8/0x6b4 [max517]
 i2c_device_probe+0xa81/0xc00

When device_add() is injected fault and returns error, if dev->devt is not set,
cdev_add() is not called, cdev_del() is not needed. Fix this by checking dev->devt
in error path.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50282?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50282?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50282 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50282 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-2022-50282 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50282 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-2022-50282 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-2022-50282/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50282/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50282
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50282
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50282

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50282/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.