# CVE-2022-50442: fs/ntfs3: Validate buffer length while parsing index

> A missing buffer length validation in the Linux kernel NTFS3 driver allows out-of-bounds memory access, potentially leading to crashes or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 8.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50442, GHSA-qqgg-499c-j47v, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-50442, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50442

## What is CVE-2022-50442?

CVE-2022-50442 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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: Validate buffer length while parsing index

indx_read is called when we have some NTFS directory operations that
need more information from the index buffers. This adds a sanity check
to make sure the returned index buffer length is legit, or we may have
some out-of-bound memory accesses.

[  560.897595] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320
[  560.898321] Read of size 2 at addr ffff888009497238 by task exp/245
[  560.898760]
[  560.899129] CPU: 0 PID: 245 Comm: exp Not tainted 6.0.0-rc6 #37
[  560.899505] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[  560.900170] Call Trace:
[  560.900407]  <TASK>
[  560.900732]  dump_stack_lvl+0x49/0x63
[  560.901108]  print_report.cold+0xf5/0x689
[  560.901395]  ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320
[  560.901716]  kasan_report+0xa7/0x130
[  560.901950]  ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320
[  560.902208]  __asan_load2+0x68/0x90
[  560.902427]  hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320
[  560.902846]  ? cmp_uints+0xe0/0xe0
[  560.903363]  ? cmp_sdh+0x90/0x90
[  560.903883]  ? ntfs_bread_run+0x190/0x190
[  560.904196]  ? rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0x750/0x750
[  560.904969]  ? ntfs_fix_post_read+0xe0/0x130
[  560.905259]  ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20
[  560.905599]  ? up_read+0x1a/0x90
[  560.905853]  ? indx_read+0x22c/0x380
[  560.906096]  indx_find+0x2ef/0x470
[  560.906352]  ? indx_find_buffer+0x2d0/0x2d0
[  560.906692]  ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x88/0xb0
[  560.906977]  dir_search_u+0x196/0x2f0
[  560.907220]  ? ntfs_nls_to_utf16+0x450/0x450
[  560.907464]  ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20
[  560.907747]  ? mutex_lock+0x8f/0xe0
[  560.907970]  ? __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x20/0x20
[  560.908214]  ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x143/0x4b0
[  560.908459]  ntfs_lookup+0xe0/0x100
[  560.908788]  __lookup_slow+0x116/0x220
[  560.909050]  ? lookup_fast+0x1b0/0x1b0
[  560.909309]  ? lookup_fast+0x13f/0x1b0
[  560.909601]  walk_component+0x187/0x230
[  560.909944]  link_path_walk.part.0+0x3f0/0x660
[  560.910285]  ? handle_lookup_down+0x90/0x90
[  560.910618]  ? path_init+0x642/0x6e0
[  560.911084]  ? percpu_counter_add_batch+0x6e/0xf0
[  560.912559]  ? __alloc_file+0x114/0x170
[  560.913008]  path_openat+0x19c/0x1d10
[  560.913419]  ? getname_flags+0x73/0x2b0
[  560.913815]  ? kasan_save_stack+0x3a/0x50
[  560.914125]  ? kasan_save_stack+0x26/0x50
[  560.914542]  ? __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6d/0x90
[  560.914924]  ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x143/0x4b0
[  560.915339]  ? getname_flags+0x73/0x2b0
[  560.915647]  ? getname+0x12/0x20
[  560.916114]  ? __x64_sys_open+0x4c/0x60
[  560.916460]  ? path_lookupat.isra.0+0x230/0x230
[  560.916867]  ? __isolate_free_page+0x2e0/0x2e0
[  560.917194]  do_filp_open+0x15c/0x1f0
[  560.917448]  ? may_open_dev+0x60/0x60
[  560.917696]  ? expand_files+0xa4/0x3a0
[  560.917923]  ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20
[  560.918185]  ? _raw_spin_lock+0x88/0xdb
[  560.918409]  ? _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x100/0x100
[  560.918783]  ? _find_next_bit+0x4a/0x130
[  560.919026]  ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x19/0x40
[  560.919276]  ? alloc_fd+0x14b/0x2d0
[  560.919635]  do_sys_openat2+0x32a/0x4b0
[  560.920035]  ? file_open_root+0x230/0x230
[  560.920336]  ? __rcu_read_unlock+0x5b/0x280
[  560.920813]  do_sys_open+0x99/0xf0
[  560.921208]  ? filp_open+0x60/0x60
[  560.921482]  ? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x49/0x180
[  560.921867]  __x64_sys_open+0x4c/0x60
[  560.922128]  do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
[  560.922369]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
[  560.923030] RIP: 0033:0x7f7dff2e4469
[  560.923681] Code: 00 f3 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 088
[  560.924451] RSP: 002b:00007ffd41a210b8 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000002
[  560.925168] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f7dff2e4469
[  560.925655] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000002 RDI:
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50442?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50442?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50442 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50442 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-2022-50442 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50442 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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-2022-50442 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-2022-50442/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50442/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50442
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50442
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50442

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50442/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
