# CVE-2022-50336: fs/ntfs3: Add null pointer check to attr_load_runs_vcn

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel NTFS3 driver allows attackers to cause a system crash via a malformed NTFS image.

- **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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50336, GHSA-5vrh-3v6q-xh47, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-50336, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50336

## What is CVE-2022-50336?

CVE-2022-50336 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:

fs/ntfs3: Add null pointer check to attr_load_runs_vcn

Some metadata files are handled before MFT. This adds a null pointer
check for some corner cases that could lead to NPD while reading these
metadata files for a malformed NTFS image.

[  240.190827] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000158
[  240.191583] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
[  240.191956] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
[  240.192391] PGD 0 P4D 0
[  240.192897] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI
[  240.193805] CPU: 0 PID: 242 Comm: mount Tainted: G    B             5.19.0+ #17
[  240.194477] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[  240.195152] RIP: 0010:ni_find_attr+0xae/0x300
[  240.195679] Code: c8 48 c7 45 88 c0 4e 5e 86 c7 00 f1 f1 f1 f1 c7 40 04 00 f3 f3 f3 65 48 8b 04 25 28 00 00 00 48 89 45 d0 31 c0 e8 e2 d9f
[  240.196642] RSP: 0018:ffff88800812f690 EFLAGS: 00000286
[  240.197019] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffffffff85ef037a
[  240.197523] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffffff88e95f60
[  240.197877] RBP: ffff88800812f738 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff11d2bed
[  240.198292] R10: ffffffff88e95f67 R11: fffffbfff11d2bec R12: 0000000000000000
[  240.198647] R13: 0000000000000080 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000
[  240.199410] FS:  00007f233c33be40(0000) GS:ffff888058200000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[  240.199895] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[  240.200314] CR2: 0000000000000158 CR3: 0000000004d32000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
[  240.200839] Call Trace:
[  240.201104]  <TASK>
[  240.201502]  ? ni_load_mi+0x80/0x80
[  240.202297]  ? ___slab_alloc+0x465/0x830
[  240.202614]  attr_load_runs_vcn+0x8c/0x1a0
[  240.202886]  ? __kasan_slab_alloc+0x32/0x90
[  240.203157]  ? attr_data_write_resident+0x250/0x250
[  240.203543]  mi_read+0x133/0x2c0
[  240.203785]  mi_get+0x70/0x140
[  240.204012]  ni_load_mi_ex+0xfa/0x190
[  240.204346]  ? ni_std5+0x90/0x90
[  240.204588]  ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x88/0xb0
[  240.204859]  ni_enum_attr_ex+0xf1/0x1c0
[  240.205107]  ? ni_fname_type.part.0+0xd0/0xd0
[  240.205600]  ? ntfs_load_attr_list+0xbe/0x300
[  240.205864]  ? ntfs_cmp_names_cpu+0x125/0x180
[  240.206157]  ntfs_iget5+0x56c/0x1870
[  240.206510]  ? ntfs_get_block_bmap+0x70/0x70
[  240.206776]  ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x88/0xb0
[  240.207030]  ? set_blocksize+0x95/0x150
[  240.207545]  ntfs_fill_super+0xb8f/0x1e20
[  240.207839]  ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0
[  240.208069]  ? vsprintf+0x20/0x20
[  240.208467]  ? mutex_unlock+0x81/0xd0
[  240.208846]  ? set_blocksize+0x95/0x150
[  240.209221]  get_tree_bdev+0x232/0x370
[  240.209804]  ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0
[  240.210519]  ntfs_fs_get_tree+0x15/0x20
[  240.210991]  vfs_get_tree+0x4c/0x130
[  240.211455]  path_mount+0x645/0xfd0
[  240.211806]  ? putname+0x80/0xa0
[  240.212112]  ? finish_automount+0x2e0/0x2e0
[  240.212559]  ? kmem_cache_free+0x110/0x390
[  240.212906]  ? putname+0x80/0xa0
[  240.213329]  do_mount+0xd6/0xf0
[  240.213829]  ? path_mount+0xfd0/0xfd0
[  240.214246]  ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20
[  240.214774]  __x64_sys_mount+0xca/0x110
[  240.215080]  do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
[  240.215442]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
[  240.215811] RIP: 0033:0x7f233b4e948a
[  240.216104] Code: 48 8b 0d 11 fa 2a 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 49 89 ca b8 a5 00 00 008
[  240.217615] RSP: 002b:00007fff02211ec8 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5
[  240.218718] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000561cdc35b060 RCX: 00007f233b4e948a
[  240.219556] RDX: 0000561cdc35b260 RSI: 0000561cdc35b2e0 RDI: 0000561cdc363af0
[  240.219975] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000561cdc35b280 R09: 0000000000000020
[  240.220403] R10: 00000000c0ed0000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000561cdc363af0
[  240.220803] R13: 000
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50336?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50336?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50336 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50336 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-2022-50336 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50336 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-2022-50336 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-2022-50336/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50336/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50336
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50336
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50336

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50336/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
