# CVE-2022-50724: regulator: core: fix resource leak in regulator_register()

> A resource leak in the Linux kernel regulator core can lead to memory exhaustion and denial of service during device registration failures.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Not stated
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50724, GHSA-wr64-83w3-wr39, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50724

## What is CVE-2022-50724?

CVE-2022-50724 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. 

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

regulator: core: fix resource leak in regulator_register()

I got some resource leak reports while doing fault injection test:

  OF: ERROR: memory leak, expected refcount 1 instead of 100,
  of_node_get()/of_node_put() unbalanced - destroy cset entry:
  attach overlay node /i2c/pmic@64/regulators/buck1

unreferenced object 0xffff88810deea000 (size 512):
  comm "490-i2c-rt5190a", pid 253, jiffies 4294859840 (age 5061.046s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 ad 4e ad de ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00  .....N..........
    ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff a0 1e 00 a1 ff ff ff ff  ................
  backtrace:
    [<00000000d78541e2>] kmalloc_trace+0x21/0x110
    [<00000000b343d153>] device_private_init+0x32/0xd0
    [<00000000be1f0c70>] device_add+0xb2d/0x1030
    [<00000000e3e6344d>] regulator_register+0xaf2/0x12a0
    [<00000000e2f5e754>] devm_regulator_register+0x57/0xb0
    [<000000008b898197>] rt5190a_probe+0x52a/0x861 [rt5190a_regulator]

unreferenced object 0xffff88810b617b80 (size 32):
  comm "490-i2c-rt5190a", pid 253, jiffies 4294859904 (age 5060.983s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    72 65 67 75 6c 61 74 6f 72 2e 32 38 36 38 2d 53  regulator.2868-S
    55 50 50 4c 59 00 ff ff 29 00 00 00 2b 00 00 00  UPPLY...)...+...
  backtrace:
    [<000000009da9280d>] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x44/0x1b0
    [<0000000025c6a4e5>] kstrdup+0x3a/0x70
    [<00000000790efb69>] create_regulator+0xc0/0x4e0
    [<0000000005ed203a>] regulator_resolve_supply+0x2d4/0x440
    [<0000000045796214>] regulator_register+0x10b3/0x12a0
    [<00000000e2f5e754>] devm_regulator_register+0x57/0xb0
    [<000000008b898197>] rt5190a_probe+0x52a/0x861 [rt5190a_regulator]

After calling regulator_resolve_supply(), the 'rdev->supply' is set
by set_supply(), after this set, in the error path, the resources
need be released, so call regulator_put() to avoid the leaks.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50724?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50724?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50724 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50724 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50724 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50724 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50724 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-2022-50724/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50724/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50724
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50724
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50724

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50724/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.