# CVE-2022-50635: powerpc/kprobes: Fix null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe()

> A local attacker with root privileges can trigger a kernel null pointer dereference in the PowerPC kprobes subsystem, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50635, GHSA-3rmf-xhh6-vpwj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-50635, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50635

## What is CVE-2022-50635?

CVE-2022-50635 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 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:

powerpc/kprobes: Fix null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe()

I found a null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe():

  # echo 'p cmdline_proc_show' > kprobe_events
  # echo 'p cmdline_proc_show+16' >> kprobe_events
  Kernel attempted to read user page (0) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
  BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000000
  Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000000050bfc
  Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
  LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA PowerNV
  Modules linked in:
  CPU: 0 PID: 122 Comm: sh Not tainted 6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e #10
  NIP:  c000000000050bfc LR: c000000000050bec CTR: 0000000000005bdc
  REGS: c0000000348475b0 TRAP: 0300   Not tainted  (6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e)
  MSR:  9000000000009033 <SF,HV,EE,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE>  CR: 88002444  XER: 20040006
  CFAR: c00000000022d100 DAR: 0000000000000000 DSISR: 40000000 IRQMASK: 0
  ...
  NIP arch_prepare_kprobe+0x10c/0x2d0
  LR  arch_prepare_kprobe+0xfc/0x2d0
  Call Trace:
    0xc0000000012f77a0 (unreliable)
    register_kprobe+0x3c0/0x7a0
    __register_trace_kprobe+0x140/0x1a0
    __trace_kprobe_create+0x794/0x1040
    trace_probe_create+0xc4/0xe0
    create_or_delete_trace_kprobe+0x2c/0x80
    trace_parse_run_command+0xf0/0x210
    probes_write+0x20/0x40
    vfs_write+0xfc/0x450
    ksys_write+0x84/0x140
    system_call_exception+0x17c/0x3a0
    system_call_vectored_common+0xe8/0x278
  --- interrupt: 3000 at 0x7fffa5682de0
  NIP:  00007fffa5682de0 LR: 0000000000000000 CTR: 0000000000000000
  REGS: c000000034847e80 TRAP: 3000   Not tainted  (6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e)
  MSR:  900000000280f033 <SF,HV,VEC,VSX,EE,PR,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE>  CR: 44002408  XER: 00000000

The address being probed has some special:

  cmdline_proc_show: Probe based on ftrace
  cmdline_proc_show+16: Probe for the next instruction at the ftrace location

The ftrace-based kprobe does not generate kprobe::ainsn::insn, it gets
set to NULL. In arch_prepare_kprobe() it will check for:

  ...
  prev = get_kprobe(p->addr - 1);
  preempt_enable_no_resched();
  if (prev && ppc_inst_prefixed(ppc_inst_read(prev->ainsn.insn))) {
  ...

If prev is based on ftrace, 'ppc_inst_read(prev->ainsn.insn)' will occur
with a null pointer reference. At this point prev->addr will not be a
prefixed instruction, so the check can be skipped.

Check if prev is ftrace-based kprobe before reading 'prev->ainsn.insn'
to fix this problem.

[mpe: Trim oops]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50635?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50635?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50635 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50635 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50635 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50635 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 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-2022-50635 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-2022-50635/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50635/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50635
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50635
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50635

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50635/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.