# CVE-2022-50778: fortify: Fix __compiletime_strlen() under UBSAN_BOUNDS_LOCAL

> A kernel panic occurs in the Linux kernel when specific fortification and bounds checking options are enabled, causing a 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:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50778, GHSA-h2v3-h25x-63cp, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2022-50778, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50778

## What is CVE-2022-50778?

CVE-2022-50778 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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:

fortify: Fix __compiletime_strlen() under UBSAN_BOUNDS_LOCAL

With CONFIG_FORTIFY=y and CONFIG_UBSAN_LOCAL_BOUNDS=y enabled, we observe
a runtime panic while running Android's Compatibility Test Suite's (CTS)
android.hardware.input.cts.tests. This is stemming from a strlen()
call in hidinput_allocate().

__compiletime_strlen() is implemented in terms of __builtin_object_size(),
then does an array access to check for NUL-termination. A quirk of
__builtin_object_size() is that for strings whose values are runtime
dependent, __builtin_object_size(str, 1 or 0) returns the maximum size
of possible values when those sizes are determinable at compile time.
Example:

  static const char *v = "FOO BAR";
  static const char *y = "FOO BA";
  unsigned long x (int z) {
      // Returns 8, which is:
      // max(__builtin_object_size(v, 1), __builtin_object_size(y, 1))
      return __builtin_object_size(z ? v : y, 1);
  }

So when FORTIFY_SOURCE is enabled, the current implementation of
__compiletime_strlen() will try to access beyond the end of y at runtime
using the size of v. Mixed with UBSAN_LOCAL_BOUNDS we get a fault.

hidinput_allocate() has a local C string whose value is control flow
dependent on a switch statement, so __builtin_object_size(str, 1)
evaluates to the maximum string length, making all other cases fault on
the last character check. hidinput_allocate() could be cleaned up to
avoid runtime calls to strlen() since the local variable can only have
literal values, so there's no benefit to trying to fortify the strlen
call site there.

Perform a __builtin_constant_p() check against index 0 earlier in the
macro to filter out the control-flow-dependant case. Add a KUnit test
for checking the expected behavioral characteristics of FORTIFY_SOURCE
internals.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50778?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50778?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50778 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50778 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50778 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50778 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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-2022-50778 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-2022-50778/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50778/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50778
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50778
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50778

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50778/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.