CVE-2022-50432

kernfs: fix use-after-free in __kernfs_remove

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: October 1, 2025 at 11:42 AM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 10:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernfs: fix use-after-free in __kernfs_remove Syzkaller managed to trigger concurrent calls to kernfs_remove_by_name_ns() for the same file resulting in a KASAN detected use-after-free. The race occurs when the root node is freed during kernfs_drain(). To prevent this acquire an additional reference for the root of the tree that is removed before calling __kernfs_remove(). Found by syzkaller with the following reproducer (slab_nomerge is required): syz_mount_image$ext4(0x0, &(0x7f0000000100)='./file0\x00', 0x100000, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0) r0 = openat(0xffffffffffffff9c, &(0x7f0000000080)='/proc/self/exe\x00', 0x0, 0x0) close(r0) pipe2(&(0x7f0000000140)={0xffffffffffffffff, <r1=>0xffffffffffffffff}, 0x800) mount$9p_fd(0x0, &(0x7f0000000040)='./file0\x00', &(0x7f00000000c0), 0x408, &(0x7f0000000280)={'trans=fd,', {'rfdno', 0x3d, r0}, 0x2c, {'wfdno', 0x3d, r1}, 0x2c, {[{@cache_loose}, {@mmap}, {@loose}, {@loose}, {@mmap}], [{@mask={'mask', 0x3d, '^MAY_EXEC'}}, {@fsmagic={'fsmagic', 0x3d, 0x10001}}, {@dont_hash}]}}) Sample report: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in kernfs_type include/linux/kernfs.h:335 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in kernfs_leftmost_descendant fs/kernfs/dir.c:1261 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __kernfs_remove.part.0+0x843/0x960 fs/kernfs/dir.c:1369 Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880088807f0 by task syz-executor.2/857 CPU: 0 PID: 857 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc3-00363-g7726d4c3e60b #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x6e/0x91 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:317 [inline] print_report.cold+0x5e/0x5e5 mm/kasan/report.c:433 kasan_report+0xa3/0x130 mm/kasan/report.c:495 kernfs_type include/linux/kernfs.h:335 [inline] kernfs_leftmost_descendant fs/kernfs/dir.c:1261 [inline] __kernfs_remove.part.0+0x843/0x960 fs/kernfs/dir.c:1369 __kernfs_remove fs/kernfs/dir.c:1356 [inline] kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0x108/0x190 fs/kernfs/dir.c:1589 sysfs_slab_add+0x133/0x1e0 mm/slub.c:5943 __kmem_cache_create+0x3e0/0x550 mm/slub.c:4899 create_cache mm/slab_common.c:229 [inline] kmem_cache_create_usercopy+0x167/0x2a0 mm/slab_common.c:335 p9_client_create+0xd4d/0x1190 net/9p/client.c:993 v9fs_session_init+0x1e6/0x13c0 fs/9p/v9fs.c:408 v9fs_mount+0xb9/0xbd0 fs/9p/vfs_super.c:126 legacy_get_tree+0xf1/0x200 fs/fs_context.c:610 vfs_get_tree+0x85/0x2e0 fs/super.c:1530 do_new_mount fs/namespace.c:3040 [inline] path_mount+0x675/0x1d00 fs/namespace.c:3370 do_mount fs/namespace.c:3383 [inline] __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3591 [inline] __se_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3568 [inline] __x64_sys_mount+0x282/0x300 fs/namespace.c:3568 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x90 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f725f983aed Code: 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f725f0f7028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f725faa3f80 RCX: 00007f725f983aed RDX: 00000000200000c0 RSI: 0000000020000040 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: 00007f725f9f419c R08: 0000000020000280 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000408 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000006 R14: 00007f725faa3f80 R15: 00007f725f0d7000 </TASK> Allocated by task 855: kasan_save_stack+0x1e/0x40 mm/kasan/common.c:38 kasan_set_track mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline] set_alloc_info mm/kasan/common.c:437 [inline] __kasan_slab_alloc+0x66/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:470 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:224 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slab.h:7 ---truncated---

Affected

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

3.14 ≤ v < 4.9.3324.10 ≤ v < 4.14.2984.15 ≤ v < 4.19.2644.20 ≤ v < 5.4.2235.11 ≤ v < 5.15.775.16 ≤ v < 6.0.75.5 ≤ v < 5.10.1533.1445a140e587f3d32d8d424ed940dffb61e1739047
Vendor states this is fixed in 028cf780743eea79abffa7206b9dcfc080ad3546 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 02eb35131050735332658029082f61515b7dfe38 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4abc99652812a2ddf932f137515d5c5a04723538 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4dfd6a477a1525773469feaf3c514b2c0fef76b5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6f72a3977ba9d0e5491a5c01315204272e7f9c44 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 94d2643df1e70a4c310ebb5e2c493eec33df1a06 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in af1b57cc39beca203559576b3046094fc9e5eb32 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c78b0dc6fb7fb389d674e491fd376388cdfb1d53 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.14 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.14.298 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.19.264 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.9.332 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.153 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.77 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.223 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.0.7 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1 (unaffected)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

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

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-416

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