# CVE-2022-50855: bpf: prevent leak of lsm program after failed attach

> A local attacker with high privileges can trigger a reference count leak in the Linux kernel BPF LSM subsystem, potentially leading to privilege escalation or denial of service.

- **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:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50855, GHSA-www3-7cx8-9832, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50855

## What is CVE-2022-50855?

CVE-2022-50855 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:

bpf: prevent leak of lsm program after failed attach

In [0], we added the ability to bpf_prog_attach LSM programs to cgroups,
but in our validation to make sure the prog is meant to be attached to
BPF_LSM_CGROUP, we return too early if the check fails. This results in
lack of decrementing prog's refcnt (through bpf_prog_put)
leaving the LSM program alive past the point of the expected lifecycle.
This fix allows for the decrement to take place.

[0] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20220628174314.1216643-4-sdf@google.com/

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50855?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50855?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50855 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50855 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50855 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50855 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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-2022-50855 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-2022-50855/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50855/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50855
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50855
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50855

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50855/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.