Linux Kernel up to 5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1 pgd_free memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function pgd_free. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-49210. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1. Affected by this vulnerability is the function pgd_free. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: MIPS: pgalloc: fix memory leak caused by pgd_free() pgd page is freed by generic implementation pgd_free() since commit f9cb654cb550 ("asm-generic: pgalloc: provide generic pgd_free()"), however, there are scenarios that the system uses more than one page as the pgd table, in such cases the generic implementation pgd_free() won't be applicable anymore. For example, when PAGE_SIZE_4KB is enabled and MIPS_VA_BITS_48 is not enabled in a 64bit system, the macro "PGD_ORDER" will be set as "1", which will cause allocating two pages as the pgd table. Well, at the same time, the generic implementation pgd_free() just free one pgd page, which will result in the memory leak. The memory leak can be easily detected by executing shell command: "while true; do ls > /dev/null; grep MemFree /proc/meminfo; done"

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49210 since 02/26/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 238226 (EulerOS 2.0 SP13 : kernel (EulerOS-SA-2025-1635)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19 or 5.17.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch fa3d44424579972cc7c4fac3d9cf227798ebdfa0/d29cda15cab086d82d692de016f7249545d4b6b4/5a8501d34b261906e4c76ec9da679f2cb4d309ed/1bf0d78c8cc3cf615a6e7bf33ada70b73592f0a1/2bc5bab9a763d520937e4f3fe8df51c6a1eceb97 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 (238226). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.109
• 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
• 5.16.0
• 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

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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