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🛡️ CVE-2022-50553 — kernel

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

Description

tracing/hist: Fix out-of-bound write on 'action_data.var_ref_idx'

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

tracing/hist: Fix out-of-bound write on 'action_data.var_ref_idx'

When generate a synthetic event with many params and then create a trace

action for it [1], kernel panic happened [2].

It is because that in trace_action_create() 'data->n_params' is up to

SYNTH_FIELDS_MAX (current value is 64), and array 'data->var_ref_idx'

keeps indices into array 'hist_data->var_refs' for each synthetic event

param, but the length of 'data->var_ref_idx' is TRACING_MAP_VARS_MAX

(current value is 16), so out-of-bound write happened when 'data->n_params'

more than 16. In this case, 'data->match_data.event' is overwritten and

eventually cause the panic.

To solve the issue, adjust the length of 'data->var_ref_idx' to be

SYNTH_FIELDS_MAX and add sanity checks to avoid out-of-bound write.

[1]

# cd /sys/kernel/tracing/

# echo "my_synth_event int v1; int v2; int v3; int v4; int v5; int v6;\

int v7; int v8; int v9; int v10; int v11; int v12; int v13; int v14;\

int v15; int v16; int v17; int v18; int v19; int v20; int v21; int v22;\

int v23; int v24; int v25; int v26; int v27; int v28; int v29; int v30;\

int v31; int v32; int v33; int v34; int v35; int v36; int v37; int v38;\

int v39; int v40; int v41; int v42; int v43; int v44; int v45; int v46;\

int v47; int v48; int v49; int v50; int v51; int v52; int v53; int v54;\

int v55; int v56; int v57; int v58; int v59; int v60; int v61; int v62;\

int v63" >> synthetic_events

# echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs if comm=="bash"' >> \

events/sched/sched_waking/trigger

# echo "hist:keys=next_pid:onmatch(sched.sched_waking).my_synth_event(\

pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\

pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\

pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,\

pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid,pid)" >> events/sched/sched_switch/trigger

[2]

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffff91c900000000

PGD 61001067 P4D 61001067 PUD 0

Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI

CPU: 2 PID: 322 Comm: bash Tainted: G W 6.1.0-rc8+ #229

Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS

rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

RIP: 0010:strcmp+0xc/0x30

Code: 75 f7 31 d2 44 0f b6 04 16 44 88 04 11 48 83 c2 01 45 84 c0 75 ee

c3 cc cc cc cc 0f 1f 00 31 c0 eb 08 48 83 c0 01 84 d2 74 13 <0f> b6 14

07 3a 14 06 74 ef 19 c0 83 c8 01 c3 cc cc cc cc 31 c3

RSP: 0018:ffff9b3b00f53c48 EFLAGS: 00000246

RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffffffba958a68 RCX: 0000000000000000

RDX: 0000000000000010 RSI: ffff91c943d33a90 RDI: ffff91c900000000

RBP: ffff91c900000000 R08: 00000018d604b529 R09: 0000000000000000

R10: ffff91c9483eddb1 R11: ffff91ca483eddab R12: ffff91c946171580

R13: ffff91c9479f0538 R14: ffff91c9457c2848 R15: ffff91c9479f0538

FS: 00007f1d1cfbe740(0000) GS:ffff91c9bdc80000(0000)

knlGS:0000000000000000

CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033

CR2: ffff91c900000000 CR3: 0000000006316000 CR4: 00000000000006e0

Call Trace:

<TASK>

__find_event_file+0x55/0x90

action_create+0x76c/0x1060

event_hist_trigger_parse+0x146d/0x2060

? event_trigger_write+0x31/0xd0

trigger_process_regex+0xbb/0x110

event_trigger_write+0x6b/0xd0

vfs_write+0xc8/0x3e0

? alloc_fd+0xc0/0x160

? preempt_count_add+0x4d/0xa0

? preempt_count_add+0x70/0xa0

ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0

do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90

entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

RIP: 0033:0x7f1d1d0cf077

Code: 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb bb 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e

fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00

f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74

RSP: 002b:00007ffcebb0e568 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001

RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000143 RCX: 00007f1d1d0cf077

RDX: 0000000000000143 RSI: 00005639265aa7e0 RDI: 0000000000000001

RBP: 00005639265aa7e0 R08: 000000000000000a R09: 0000000000000142

R

---truncated---

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-2022-50553 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 5.16.0 up to 6.1.4)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.1 up to 6.1.4)

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)
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-2022-50553 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 5.16.0 6.1.4
linux-kernel 6.1 6.1.4

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