CVE-2022-49770 in Linux
Summary
by MITRE • 05/01/2025
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ceph: avoid putting the realm twice when decoding snaps fails
When decoding the snaps fails it maybe leaving the 'first_realm' and 'realm' pointing to the same snaprealm memory. And then it'll put it twice and could cause random use-after-free, BUG_ON, etc issues.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/07/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2022-49770 represents a critical memory management flaw within the Linux kernel's Ceph distributed storage system implementation. This issue manifests in the snaprealm handling mechanism where the kernel fails to properly manage memory references during snapshot decoding operations. The flaw occurs when the system attempts to decode snapshot information and encounters failures in the process, leading to a specific memory state where both the 'first_realm' and 'realm' pointers reference the same snaprealm memory location. This duplicate pointer scenario creates a dangerous condition where the same memory region gets released twice, resulting in unpredictable system behavior and potential security implications.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper reference counting and memory management within the Ceph kernel module's snapshot handling code. When snapshot decoding fails, the system should properly clean up memory references and ensure that each allocated memory region is freed exactly once. However, the current implementation allows for a scenario where the same snaprealm memory object gets processed twice during cleanup operations. This double-free condition can lead to memory corruption that manifests as use-after-free errors, BUG_ON assertions, and other system instability issues. The vulnerability specifically impacts the Ceph storage subsystem which is widely used in enterprise environments for distributed storage solutions, making this flaw particularly concerning for organizations relying on Linux-based storage infrastructures.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-49770 extends beyond simple system instability into potential security compromise scenarios. Memory corruption vulnerabilities of this nature can be exploited by malicious actors to achieve arbitrary code execution or denial of service conditions within affected systems. The use-after-free condition creates opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory layout and potentially inject malicious code into the kernel space. This vulnerability affects systems running Linux kernels with Ceph storage capabilities and could be leveraged in targeted attacks against infrastructure that relies on distributed storage solutions. The issue is particularly problematic in environments where Ceph is used for critical data storage, as system crashes or memory corruption could lead to data loss or service disruption.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate kernel updates and patches provided by the Linux kernel maintainers. Organizations should prioritize applying the official security patches that address the double-free condition in the Ceph snaprealm handling code. Additionally, system administrators should implement monitoring solutions to detect anomalous memory behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-415 which describes double free conditions in memory management, and could potentially map to ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation through kernel exploits. Regular security audits of storage subsystems and kernel modules should be conducted to identify similar memory management flaws that could create comparable security risks. Network segmentation and access controls should be maintained to limit potential exploitation vectors while patches are being deployed across affected systems.