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🛡️ CVE-2022-50545 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

r6040: Fix kmemleak in probe and remove

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

r6040: Fix kmemleak in probe and remove

There is a memory leaks reported by kmemleak:

unreferenced object 0xffff888116111000 (size 2048):

comm "modprobe", pid 817, jiffies 4294759745 (age 76.502s)

hex dump (first 32 bytes):

00 c4 0a 04 81 88 ff ff 08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff ................

08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

backtrace:

[<ffffffff815bcd82>] kmalloc_trace+0x22/0x60

[<ffffffff827e20ee>] phy_device_create+0x4e/0x90

[<ffffffff827e6072>] get_phy_device+0xd2/0x220

[<ffffffff827e7844>] mdiobus_scan+0xa4/0x2e0

[<ffffffff827e8be2>] __mdiobus_register+0x482/0x8b0

[<ffffffffa01f5d24>] r6040_init_one+0x714/0xd2c [r6040]

...

The problem occurs in probe process as follows:

r6040_init_one:

mdiobus_register

mdiobus_scan <- alloc and register phy_device,

the reference count of phy_device is 3

r6040_mii_probe

phy_connect <- connect to the first phy_device,

so the reference count of the first

phy_device is 4, others are 3

register_netdev <- fault inject succeeded, goto error handling path

// error handling path

err_out_mdio_unregister:

mdiobus_unregister(lp->mii_bus);

err_out_mdio:

mdiobus_free(lp->mii_bus); <- the reference count of the first

phy_device is 1, it is not released

and other phy_devices are released

// similarly, the remove process also has the same problem

The root cause is traced to the phy_device is not disconnected when

removes one r6040 device in r6040_remove_one() or on error handling path

after r6040_mii probed successfully. In r6040_mii_probe(), a net ethernet

device is connected to the first PHY device of mii_bus, in order to

notify the connected driver when the link status changes, which is the

default behavior of the PHY infrastructure to handle everything.

Therefore the phy_device should be disconnected when removes one r6040

device or on error handling path.

Fix it by adding phy_disconnect() when removes one r6040 device or on

error handling path after r6040_mii probed successfully.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2022-50545 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.1.0 up to 6.1.2)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.1 up to 6.1.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 7 October 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2022-50545 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-10-07
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.1.0 6.1.2
linux-kernel 6.1 6.1.2

References

Similar Threats

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