CVE-2022-50652 uio: uio_dmem_genirq: Fix missing unlock in irq configuration
A local attacker can cause a kernel panic and system crash by repeatedly writing to a specific UIO device file due to a missing spinlock unlock.
- 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-2022-50652?
CVE-2022-50652 is a denial of service 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:
uio: uio_dmem_genirq: Fix missing unlock in irq configuration
Commit b74351287d4b ("uio: fix a sleep-in-atomic-context bug in uio_dmem_genirq_irqcontrol()") started calling disable_irq() without holding the spinlock because it can sleep. However, that fix introduced another bug: if interrupt is already disabled and a new disable request comes in, then the spinlock is not unlocked:
root@localhost:~# printf '\x00\x00\x00\x00' > /dev/uio0 root@localhost:~# printf '\x00\x00\x00\x00' > /dev/uio0 root@localhost:~# [ 14.851538] BUG: scheduling while atomic: bash/223/0x00000002 [ 14.851991] Modules linked in: uio_dmem_genirq uio myfpga(OE) bochs drm_vram_helper drm_ttm_helper ttm drm_kms_helper drm snd_pcm ppdev joydev psmouse snd_timer snd e1000fb_sys_fops syscopyarea parport sysfillrect soundcore sysimgblt input_leds pcspkr i2c_piix4 serio_raw floppy evbug qemu_fw_cfg mac_hid pata_acpi ip_tables x_tables autofs4 [last unloaded: parport_pc] [ 14.854206] CPU: 0 PID: 223 Comm: bash Tainted: G OE 6.0.0-rc7 #21 [ 14.854786] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 14.855664] Call Trace: [ 14.855861] <TASK> [ 14.856025] dump_stack_lvl+0x4d/0x67 [ 14.856325] dump_stack+0x14/0x1a [ 14.856583] __schedule_bug.cold+0x4b/0x5c [ 14.856915] __schedule+0xe81/0x13d0 [ 14.857199] ? idr_find+0x13/0x20 [ 14.857456] ? get_work_pool+0x2d/0x50 [ 14.857756] ? __flush_work+0x233/0x280 [ 14.858068] ? __schedule+0xa95/0x13d0 [ 14.858307] ? idr_find+0x13/0x20 [ 14.858519] ? get_work_pool+0x2d/0x50 [ 14.858798] schedule+0x6c/0x100 [ 14.859009] schedule_hrtimeout_range_clock+0xff/0x110 [ 14.859335] ? tty_write_room+0x1f/0x30 [ 14.859598] ? n_tty_poll+0x1ec/0x220 [ 14.859830] ? tty_ldisc_deref+0x1a/0x20 [ 14.860090] schedule_hrtimeout_range+0x17/0x20 [ 14.860373] do_select+0x596/0x840 [ 14.860627] ? __kernel_text_address+0x16/0x50 [ 14.860954] ? poll_freewait+0xb0/0xb0 [ 14.861235] ? poll_freewait+0xb0/0xb0 [ 14.861517] ? rpm_resume+0x49d/0x780 [ 14.861798] ? common_interrupt+0x59/0xa0 [ 14.862127] ? asm_common_interrupt+0x2b/0x40 [ 14.862511] ? __uart_start.isra.0+0x61/0x70 [ 14.862902] ? __check_object_size+0x61/0x280 [ 14.863255] core_sys_select+0x1c6/0x400 [ 14.863575] ? vfs_write+0x1c9/0x3d0 [ 14.863853] ? vfs_write+0x1c9/0x3d0 [ 14.864121] ? _copy_from_user+0x45/0x70 [ 14.864526] do_pselect.constprop.0+0xb3/0xf0 [ 14.864893] ? do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x90 [ 14.865228] ? do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x90 [ 14.865556] __x64_sys_pselect6+0x76/0xa0 [ 14.865906] do_syscall_64+0x60/0x90 [ 14.866214] ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x2a/0x50 [ 14.866640] ? do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x90 [ 14.866972] ? do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x90 [ 14.867286] ? do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x90 [ 14.867626] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [...] stripped [ 14.872959] </TASK>
('myfpga' is a simple 'uio_dmem_genirq' driver I wrote to test this)
The implementation of "uio_dmem_genirq" was based on "uio_pdrv_genirq" and it is used in a similar manner to the "uio_pdrv_genirq" driver with respect to interrupt configuration and handling. At the time "uio_dmem_genirq" was introduced, both had the same implementation of the 'uio_info' handlers irqcontrol() and handler(). Then commit 34cb27528398 ("UIO: Fix concurrency issue"), which was only applied to "uio_pdrv_genirq", ended up making them a little different. That commit, among other things, changed disable_irq() to disable_irq_nosync() in the implementation of irqcontrol(). The motivation there was to avoid a deadlock between irqcontrol() and handler(), since it added a spinlock in the irq handler, and disable_irq() waits for the completion of the irq handler.
By changing disable_irq() to disable_irq_nosync() in irqcontrol(), we also avoid the sleeping-whil ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50652?
How do I fix CVE-2022-50652?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2022-50652 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50652 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50652, GHSA-7863-hf67-mmwv, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50652.