CVE-2022-49700

High

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/slub: add missing TID updates on slab deactivation The fastpath in slab_alloc_node() assumes that c->slab is stable as long as the TID stays the same. However, two places in __slab_alloc() currently don't update the TID when deactivating the CPU slab. If multiple operations race the right way, this could lead to an object getting lost; or, in an even more unlikely situation, it could even lead to an object being freed onto the wrong slab's freelist, messing up the `inuse` counter and eventually causing a page to be freed to the page allocator while it still contains slab objects. (I haven't actually tested these cases though, this is just based on looking at the code. Writing testcases for this stuff seems like it'd be a pain...) The race leading to state inconsistency is (all operations on the same CPU and kmem_cache): - task A: begin do_slab_free(): - read TID - read pcpu freelist (==NULL) - check `slab == c->slab` (true) - [PREEMPT A->B] - task B: begin slab_alloc_node(): - fastpath fails (`c->freelist` is NULL) - enter __slab_alloc() - slub_get_cpu_ptr() (disables preemption) - enter ___slab_alloc() - take local_lock_irqsave() - read c->freelist as NULL - get_freelist() returns NULL - write `c->slab = NULL` - drop local_unlock_irqrestore() - goto new_slab - slub_percpu_partial() is NULL - get_partial() returns NULL - slub_put_cpu_ptr() (enables preemption) - [PREEMPT B->A] - task A: finish do_slab_free(): - this_cpu_cmpxchg_double() succeeds() - [CORRUPT STATE: c->slab==NULL, c->freelist!=NULL] From there, the object on c->freelist will get lost if task B is allowed to continue from here: It will proceed to the retry_load_slab label, set c->slab, then jump to load_freelist, which clobbers c->freelist. But if we instead continue as follows, we get worse corruption: - task A: run __slab_free() on object from other struct slab: - CPU_PARTIAL_FREE case (slab was on no list, is now on pcpu partial) - task A: run slab_alloc_node() with NUMA node constraint: - fastpath fails (c->slab is NULL) - call __slab_alloc() - slub_get_cpu_ptr() (disables preemption) - enter ___slab_alloc() - c->slab is NULL: goto new_slab - slub_percpu_partial() is non-NULL - set c->slab to slub_percpu_partial(c) - [CORRUPT STATE: c->slab points to slab-1, c->freelist has objects from slab-2] - goto redo - node_match() fails - goto deactivate_slab - existing c->freelist is passed into deactivate_slab() - inuse count of slab-1 is decremented to account for object from slab-2 At this point, the inuse count of slab-1 is 1 lower than it should be. This means that if we free all allocated objects in slab-1 except for one, SLUB will think that slab-1 is completely unused, and may free its page, leading to use-after-free.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-02-26
Last modified 2025-03-25
CVSS version 3.1
Patch available
Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

7.8

out of 10
High
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-416

CVE-2022-49700 is a Use After Free vulnerability

What is Use After Free?

The product references memory after it has been freed, which may cause it to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 3.1 and later are affected. Fixed in 4.9.323, 4.14.288, 4.19.252, 5.4.205, 5.10.130, 5.15.54, 5.18.8, 5.19 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 3.1
Fixed in
✓ 4.9.323 4.9.x ✓ 4.14.288 4.14.x ✓ 4.19.252 4.19.x ✓ 5.4.205 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.130 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.54 5.15.x ✓ 5.18.8 5.18.x ✓ 5.19

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2022-49700 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2022-49700?

    CVE-2022-49700 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10 , classified as an Use After Free flaw (CWE-416) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 3.1 onward and has been patched in 4.9.323, 4.14.288, 4.19.252 and others. CVE-2022-49700 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-49700?

    CVE-2022-49700 has a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H .

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2022-49700?

    Yes — CVE-2022-49700 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.9.323, 4.14.288, 4.19.252 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 3.1 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2022-49700 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2022-49700 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

  • What is Use After Free (CWE-416)?

    The product references memory after it has been freed, which may cause it to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. View CWE-416 on MITRE CWE →