Linux Kernel up to 5.16.18/5.17.1 bio_endio null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.18/5.17.1. Affected by this issue is the function bio_endio. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2022-49168. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.18/5.17.1. This affects the function bio_endio. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: do not clean up repair bio if submit fails The submit helper will always run bio_endio() on the bio if it fails to submit, so cleaning up the bio just leads to a variety of use-after-free and NULL pointer dereference bugs because we race with the endio function that is cleaning up the bio. Instead just return BLK_STS_OK as the repair function has to continue to process the rest of the pages, and the endio for the repair bio will do the appropriate cleanup for the page that it was given.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2022-49168 since 02/26/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 235787 (Amazon Linux AMI : kernel (ALAS-2025-1977)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.16.19 or 5.17.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e76c78c48902dae6fa612749f59162bca0a79e0b/d1cb11fb45ebbb1e7dfe5e9038b32ea72c184b14/8cbc3001a3264d998d6b6db3e23f935c158abd4d 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.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (235787). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.16.0
• 5.16.1
• 5.16.2
• 5.16.3
• 5.16.4
• 5.16.5
• 5.16.6
• 5.16.7
• 5.16.8
• 5.16.9
• 5.16.10
• 5.16.11
• 5.16.12
• 5.16.13
• 5.16.14
• 5.16.15
• 5.16.16
• 5.16.17
• 5.16.18
• 5.17.0
• 5.17.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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