# CVE-2022-50400: staging: greybus: audio_helper: remove unused and wrong debugfs usage

> A bug in the Linux kernel greybus audio driver could cause memory leaks and remove all system debugfs entries, 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:** 18 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50400, GHSA-f9wf-xvm8-m6qp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50400

## What is CVE-2022-50400?

CVE-2022-50400 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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:

staging: greybus: audio_helper: remove unused and wrong debugfs usage

In the greybus audio_helper code, the debugfs file for the dapm has the
potential to be removed and memory will be leaked.  There is also the
very real potential for this code to remove ALL debugfs entries from the
system, and it seems like this is what will really happen if this code
ever runs.  This all is very wrong as the greybus audio driver did not
create this debugfs file, the sound core did and controls the lifespan
of it.

So remove all of the debugfs logic from the audio_helper code as there's
no way it could be correct.  If this really is needed, it can come back
with a fixup for the incorrect usage of the debugfs_lookup() call which
is what caused this to be noticed at all.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50400?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50400?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50400 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50400 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-2022-50400 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50400 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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-2022-50400 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-2022-50400/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50400/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50400
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50400
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50400

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50400/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.