What is CVE-2022-50506?

CVE-2022-50506 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476), affecting Linux kernel versions from 5.18 onward and patched in 6.0.6 and 6.1. CVE-2022-50506 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-50506?

CVE-2022-50506 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2022-50506?

Yes, CVE-2022-50506 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.0.6 and 6.1. If you are running Linux kernel 5.18 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2022-50506 actively exploited?

CVE-2022-50506 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476.html

CVE-2022-50506

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drbd: only clone bio if we have a backing device Commit c347a787e34cb (drbd: set ->bi_bdev in drbd_req_new) moved a bio_set_dev call (which has since been removed) to "earlier", from drbd_request_prepare to drbd_req_new. The problem is that this accesses device->ldev->backing_bdev, which is not NULL-checked at this point. When we don't have an ldev (i.e. when the DRBD device is diskless), this leads to a null pointer deref. So, only allocate the private_bio if we actually have a disk. This is also a small optimization, since we don't clone the bio to only to immediately free it again in the diskless case.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-10-04

Last modified 2026-03-25

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-476

CVE-2022-50506 is a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability

What is NULL Pointer Dereference?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.18 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.0.6, 6.1 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 5.18

Fixed in

✓ 6.0.6 6.0.x ✓ 6.1

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2022-50506 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/05580a3bbf3cec677cb00a85dfeb21d6a9b48eaf
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d42ddf7f27b6723549ee6d4c8b1b418b59bf6b5
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2022-50506

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-10-04

Modified 2026-03-25

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-50506?

CVE-2022-50506 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.18 onward and has been patched in 6.0.6 and 6.1. CVE-2022-50506 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-50506?

CVE-2022-50506 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2022-50506?

Yes — CVE-2022-50506 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.0.6 and 6.1. If you are running Linux kernel 5.18 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2022-50506 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2022-50506 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. View CWE-476 on MITRE CWE →