# CVE-2022-50545: r6040: Fix kmemleak in probe and remove

> A memory leak in the r6040 network driver can lead to resource exhaustion and 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:** 7 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50545, GHSA-2q87-gcq9-5rfq, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50545

## What is CVE-2022-50545?

CVE-2022-50545 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

r6040: Fix kmemleak in probe and remove

There is a memory leaks reported by kmemleak:

  unreferenced object 0xffff888116111000 (size 2048):
    comm "modprobe", pid 817, jiffies 4294759745 (age 76.502s)
    hex dump (first 32 bytes):
      00 c4 0a 04 81 88 ff ff 08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff  ................
      08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    backtrace:
      [<ffffffff815bcd82>] kmalloc_trace+0x22/0x60
      [<ffffffff827e20ee>] phy_device_create+0x4e/0x90
      [<ffffffff827e6072>] get_phy_device+0xd2/0x220
      [<ffffffff827e7844>] mdiobus_scan+0xa4/0x2e0
      [<ffffffff827e8be2>] __mdiobus_register+0x482/0x8b0
      [<ffffffffa01f5d24>] r6040_init_one+0x714/0xd2c [r6040]
      ...

The problem occurs in probe process as follows:
  r6040_init_one:
    mdiobus_register
      mdiobus_scan    <- alloc and register phy_device,
                         the reference count of phy_device is 3
    r6040_mii_probe
      phy_connect     <- connect to the first phy_device,
                         so the reference count of the first
                         phy_device is 4, others are 3
    register_netdev   <- fault inject succeeded, goto error handling path

    // error handling path
    err_out_mdio_unregister:
      mdiobus_unregister(lp->mii_bus);
    err_out_mdio:
      mdiobus_free(lp->mii_bus);    <- the reference count of the first
                                       phy_device is 1, it is not released
                                       and other phy_devices are released
  // similarly, the remove process also has the same problem

The root cause is traced to the phy_device is not disconnected when
removes one r6040 device in r6040_remove_one() or on error handling path
after r6040_mii probed successfully. In r6040_mii_probe(), a net ethernet
device is connected to the first PHY device of mii_bus, in order to
notify the connected driver when the link status changes, which is the
default behavior of the PHY infrastructure to handle everything.
Therefore the phy_device should be disconnected when removes one r6040
device or on error handling path.

Fix it by adding phy_disconnect() when removes one r6040 device or on
error handling path after r6040_mii probed successfully.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50545?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50545?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50545 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50545 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-2022-50545 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50545 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50545 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-2022-50545/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50545/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50545
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50545
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50545

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50545/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.