CVE-2022-50511 lib/fonts: fix undefined behavior in bit shift for get_default_font

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

Undefined behavior in Linux kernel font handling causes a crash, potentially leading to denial of service.

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-2022-50511?

CVE-2022-50511 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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:

lib/fonts: fix undefined behavior in bit shift for get_default_font

Shifting signed 32-bit value by 31 bits is undefined, so changing significant bit to unsigned. The UBSAN warning calltrace like below:

UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in lib/fonts/fonts.c:139:20 left shift of 1 by 31 places cannot be represented in type 'int' <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x7d/0xa5 dump_stack+0x15/0x1b ubsan_epilogue+0xe/0x4e __ubsan_handle_shift_out_of_bounds+0x1e7/0x20c get_default_font+0x1c7/0x1f0 fbcon_startup+0x347/0x3a0 do_take_over_console+0xce/0x270 do_fbcon_takeover+0xa1/0x170 do_fb_registered+0x2a8/0x340 fbcon_fb_registered+0x47/0xe0 register_framebuffer+0x294/0x4a0 __drm_fb_helper_initial_config_and_unlock+0x43c/0x880 [drm_kms_helper] drm_fb_helper_initial_config+0x52/0x80 [drm_kms_helper] drm_fbdev_client_hotplug+0x156/0x1b0 [drm_kms_helper] drm_fbdev_generic_setup+0xfc/0x290 [drm_kms_helper] bochs_pci_probe+0x6ca/0x772 [bochs] local_pci_probe+0x4d/0xb0 pci_device_probe+0x119/0x320 really_probe+0x181/0x550 __driver_probe_device+0xc6/0x220 driver_probe_device+0x32/0x100 __driver_attach+0x195/0x200 bus_for_each_dev+0xbb/0x120 driver_attach+0x27/0x30 bus_add_driver+0x22e/0x2f0 driver_register+0xa9/0x190 __pci_register_driver+0x90/0xa0 bochs_pci_driver_init+0x52/0x1000 [bochs] do_one_initcall+0x76/0x430 do_init_module+0x61/0x28a load_module+0x1f82/0x2e50 __do_sys_finit_module+0xf8/0x190 __x64_sys_finit_module+0x23/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x58/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd </TASK>

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50511?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-50511?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2022-50511 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50511 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50511, GHSA-72cp-v89q-9p3w, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50511.

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