Linux Kernel up to 5.15.45/5.17.13/5.18.2 fb_info use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.45/5.17.13/5.18.2 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function fb_info. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-49419. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.45/5.17.13/5.18.2. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function fb_info. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: video: fbdev: vesafb: Fix a use-after-free due early fb_info cleanup Commit b3c9a924aab6 ("fbdev: vesafb: Cleanup fb_info in .fb_destroy rather than .remove") fixed a use-after-free error due the vesafb driver freeing the fb_info in the .remove handler instead of doing it in .fb_destroy. This can happen if the .fb_destroy callback is executed after the .remove callback, since the former tries to access a pointer freed by the latter. But that change didn't take into account that another possible scenario is that .fb_destroy is called before the .remove callback. For example, if no process has the fbdev chardev opened by the time the driver is removed. If that's the case, fb_info will be freed when unregister_framebuffer() is called, making the fb_info pointer accessed in vesafb_remove() after that to no longer be valid. To prevent that, move the expression containing the info->par to happen before the unregister_framebuffer() function call.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49419 since 02/26/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/25/2025).

Upgrading to version 5.15.46, 5.17.14 or 5.18.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0fac5f8fb1bc2fc4f8714bf5e743c9cc3f547c63/f605f5558ecc175ec70016a3c15f007cb6386531/d260cad015945d1f4bb9b028a096f648506106a2/acde4003efc16480375543638484d8f13f2e99a3 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.17.0
• 5.17.1
• 5.17.2
• 5.17.3
• 5.17.4
• 5.17.5
• 5.17.6
• 5.17.7
• 5.17.8
• 5.17.9
• 5.17.10
• 5.17.11
• 5.17.12
• 5.17.13
• 5.18.0
• 5.18.1
• 5.18.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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