# CVE-2022-50626: media: dvb-usb: fix memory leak in dvb_usb_adapter_init() > A memory leak in the Linux kernel's DVB-USB driver allows local attackers to cause resource exhaustion and denial of service. - **Severity:** Not scored - **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:** 8 Dec 2025 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50626, GHSA-9xm9-3332-24pq, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50626 ## What is CVE-2022-50626? CVE-2022-50626 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 8 Dec 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: media: dvb-usb: fix memory leak in dvb_usb_adapter_init() Syzbot reports a memory leak in "dvb_usb_adapter_init()". The leak is due to not accounting for and freeing current iteration's adapter->priv in case of an error. Currently if an error occurs, it will exit before incrementing "num_adapters_initalized", which is used as a reference counter to free all adap->priv in "dvb_usb_adapter_exit()". There are multiple error paths that can exit from before incrementing the counter. Including the error handling paths for "dvb_usb_adapter_stream_init()", "dvb_usb_adapter_dvb_init()" and "dvb_usb_adapter_frontend_init()" within "dvb_usb_adapter_init()". This means that in case of an error in any of these functions the current iteration is not accounted for and the current iteration's adap->priv is not freed. Fix this by freeing the current iteration's adap->priv in the "stream_init_err:" label in the error path. The rest of the (accounted for) adap->priv objects are freed in dvb_usb_adapter_exit() as expected using the num_adapters_initalized variable. Syzbot report: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff8881172f1a00 (size 512): comm "kworker/0:2", pid 139, jiffies 4294994873 (age 10.960s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [] dvb_usb_adapter_init drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb-init.c:75 [inline] [] dvb_usb_init drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb-init.c:184 [inline] [] dvb_usb_device_init.cold+0x4e5/0x79e drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb-init.c:308 [] dib0700_probe+0x8d/0x1b0 drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dib0700_core.c:883 [] usb_probe_interface+0x177/0x370 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:396 [] call_driver_probe drivers/base/dd.c:542 [inline] [] really_probe.part.0+0xe7/0x310 drivers/base/dd.c:621 [] really_probe drivers/base/dd.c:583 [inline] [] __driver_probe_device+0x10c/0x1e0 drivers/base/dd.c:752 [] driver_probe_device+0x2a/0x120 drivers/base/dd.c:782 [] __device_attach_driver+0xf6/0x140 drivers/base/dd.c:899 [] bus_for_each_drv+0xb7/0x100 drivers/base/bus.c:427 [] __device_attach+0x122/0x260 drivers/base/dd.c:970 [] bus_probe_device+0xc6/0xe0 drivers/base/bus.c:487 [] device_add+0x5fb/0xdf0 drivers/base/core.c:3405 [] usb_set_configuration+0x8f2/0xb80 drivers/usb/core/message.c:2170 [] usb_generic_driver_probe+0x8c/0xc0 drivers/usb/core/generic.c:238 [] usb_probe_device+0x5c/0x140 drivers/usb/core/driver.c:293 [] call_driver_probe drivers/base/dd.c:542 [inline] [] really_probe.part.0+0xe7/0x310 drivers/base/dd.c:621 [] really_probe drivers/base/dd.c:583 [inline] [] __driver_probe_device+0x10c/0x1e0 drivers/base/dd.c:752 ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50626? ## How do I fix CVE-2022-50626? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-50626 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50626 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50626 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-50626 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 8 Dec 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-2022-50626 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux. 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-2022-50626/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50626/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50626 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50626 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50626 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50626/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.