CVE-2022-50473 cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add()
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel cpufreq subsystem can cause a system crash when kobject initialization fails.
- 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-2022-50473?
CVE-2022-50473 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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:
cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add()
In cpufreq_policy_alloc(), it will call uninitialed completion in cpufreq_sysfs_release() when kobject_init_and_add() fails. And that will cause a crash such as the following page fault in complete:
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffffffffffff8 [..] RIP: 0010:complete+0x98/0x1f0 [..] Call Trace: kobject_put+0x1be/0x4c0 cpufreq_online.cold+0xee/0x1fd cpufreq_add_dev+0x183/0x1e0 subsys_interface_register+0x3f5/0x4e0 cpufreq_register_driver+0x3b7/0x670 acpi_cpufreq_init+0x56c/0x1000 [acpi_cpufreq] do_one_initcall+0x13d/0x780 do_init_module+0x1c3/0x630 load_module+0x6e67/0x73b0 __do_sys_finit_module+0x181/0x240 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
Weakness: CWE-908
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50473?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-50473?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2022-50473 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50473 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50473, GHSA-ph99-mx6c-hvf9, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50473.