What is CVE-2022-50668?

CVE-2022-50668 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 4.6 onward and patched in 4.19.270, 5.4.229, 5.10.163 and others. CVE-2022-50668 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-50668?

CVE-2022-50668 has a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, rated High severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2022-50668?

Yes, CVE-2022-50668 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.270, 5.4.229, 5.10.163 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.6 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2022-50668 actively exploited?

CVE-2022-50668 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2022-50668

High

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix deadlock due to mbcache entry corruption When manipulating xattr blocks, we can deadlock infinitely looping inside ext4_xattr_block_set() where we constantly keep finding xattr block for reuse in mbcache but we are unable to reuse it because its reference count is too big. This happens because cache entry for the xattr block is marked as reusable (e_reusable set) although its reference count is too big. When this inconsistency happens, this inconsistent state is kept indefinitely and so ext4_xattr_block_set() keeps retrying indefinitely. The inconsistent state is caused by non-atomic update of e_reusable bit. e_reusable is part of a bitfield and e_reusable update can race with update of e_referenced bit in the same bitfield resulting in loss of one of the updates. Fix the problem by using atomic bitops instead. This bug has been around for many years, but it became *much* easier to hit after commit 65f8b80053a1 ("ext4: fix race when reusing xattr blocks").

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-12-09

Last modified 2026-08-04

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

7.5

out of 10

High

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

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

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.6 and later are affected. Fixed in 4.19.270, 5.4.229, 5.10.163, 5.15.87, 6.0.18, 6.1.4, 6.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 4.6

Fixed in

✓ 4.19.270 4.19.x ✓ 5.4.229 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.163 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.87 5.15.x ✓ 6.0.18 6.0.x ✓ 6.1.4 6.1.x ✓ 6.2

References

7 total

Showing 5 of 7 references View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2022-50668

Severity High

CVSS score 7.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-12-09

Modified 2026-08-04

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-50668?

CVE-2022-50668 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.6 onward and has been patched in 4.19.270, 5.4.229, 5.10.163 and others. CVE-2022-50668 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2022-50668?

CVE-2022-50668 has a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2022-50668?

Yes. CVE-2022-50668 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.270, 5.4.229, 5.10.163 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.6 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2022-50668 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2022-50668 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.