CVE-2022-49006

tracing: Free buffers when a used dynamic event is removed

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: October 21, 2024 at 08:06 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:16 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

Using Linux by Linux?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Linux - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Free buffers when a used dynamic event is removed After 65536 dynamic events have been added and removed, the "type" field of the event then uses the first type number that is available (not currently used by other events). A type number is the identifier of the binary blobs in the tracing ring buffer (known as events) to map them to logic that can parse the binary blob. The issue is that if a dynamic event (like a kprobe event) is traced and is in the ring buffer, and then that event is removed (because it is dynamic, which means it can be created and destroyed), if another dynamic event is created that has the same number that new event's logic on parsing the binary blob will be used. To show how this can be an issue, the following can crash the kernel: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing # for i in `seq 65536`; do echo 'p:kprobes/foo do_sys_openat2 $arg1:u32' > kprobe_events # done For every iteration of the above, the writing to the kprobe_events will remove the old event and create a new one (with the same format) and increase the type number to the next available on until the type number reaches over 65535 which is the max number for the 16 bit type. After it reaches that number, the logic to allocate a new number simply looks for the next available number. When an dynamic event is removed, that number is then available to be reused by the next dynamic event created. That is, once the above reaches the max number, the number assigned to the event in that loop will remain the same. Now that means deleting one dynamic event and created another will reuse the previous events type number. This is where bad things can happen. After the above loop finishes, the kprobes/foo event which reads the do_sys_openat2 function call's first parameter as an integer. # echo 1 > kprobes/foo/enable # cat /etc/passwd > /dev/null # cat trace cat-2211 [005] .... 2007.849603: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x130) arg1=4294967196 cat-2211 [005] .... 2007.849620: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x130) arg1=4294967196 cat-2211 [005] .... 2007.849838: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x130) arg1=4294967196 cat-2211 [005] .... 2007.849880: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x130) arg1=4294967196 # echo 0 > kprobes/foo/enable Now if we delete the kprobe and create a new one that reads a string: # echo 'p:kprobes/foo do_sys_openat2 +0($arg2):string' > kprobe_events And now we can the trace: # cat trace sendmail-1942 [002] ..... 530.136320: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x240) arg1= cat-2046 [004] ..... 530.930817: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x240) arg1="������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������" cat-2046 [004] ..... 530.930961: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x240) arg1="������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������" cat-2046 [004] ..... 530.934278: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x240) arg1="������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������" cat-2046 [004] ..... 530.934563: foo: (do_sys_openat2+0x0/0x240) arg1="��������������������������������������� ---truncated---

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

2.6.33 ≤ v < 5.10.1582.6.33 ≤ v < 5.15.822.6.33 ≤ v < 5.4.2262.6.33 ≤ v < 6.0.122.6.33 ≤ v < 6.15.11 ≤ v < 5.15.825.16 ≤ v < 6.0.125.5 ≤ v < 5.10.1586.1 rc16.1 rc26.1 rc36.1 rc46.1 rc56.1 rc66.1 rc777b44d1b7c28360910cdbd427fb62d485c08674c
Vendor states this is fixed in 1603feac154ff38514e8354e3079a455eb4801e2 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 417d5ea6e735e5d88ffb6c436cf2938f3f476dd1 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4313e5a613049dfc1819a6dfb5f94cf2caff9452 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in be111ebd8868d4b7c041cb3c6102e1ae27d6dc1d (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c52d0c8c4f38f7580cff61c4dfe1034c580cedfd (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 2.6.33 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.158 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.82 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.226 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.0.12 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1 (unaffected)

References (5)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1603feac154ff38514e8354e3079a455eb4801e2
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/417d5ea6e735e5d88ffb6c436cf2938f3f476dd1
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4313e5a613049dfc1819a6dfb5f94cf2caff9452
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be111ebd8868d4b7c041cb3c6102e1ae27d6dc1d
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c52d0c8c4f38f7580cff61c4dfe1034c580cedfd

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-416

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card