Linux Kernel up to 5.17.1 drop_caches buffer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.188/5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1. The affected element is an unknown function of the component drop_caches. Performing a manipulation results in buffer overflow. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2022-49255. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.188/5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1. This affects an unknown code of the component drop_caches. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix missing free nid in f2fs_handle_failed_inode This patch fixes xfstests/generic/475 failure. [ 293.680694] F2FS-fs (dm-1): May loss orphan inode, run fsck to fix. [ 293.685358] Buffer I/O error on dev dm-1, logical block 8388592, async page read [ 293.691527] Buffer I/O error on dev dm-1, logical block 8388592, async page read [ 293.691764] sh (7615): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.691819] sh (7616): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.694017] Buffer I/O error on dev dm-1, logical block 1, async page read [ 293.695659] sh (7618): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.696979] sh (7617): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.700290] sh (7623): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.708621] sh (7626): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.711386] sh (7628): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.711825] sh (7627): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.716738] sh (7630): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.719613] sh (7632): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.720971] sh (7633): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.727741] sh (7634): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.730783] sh (7636): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.732681] sh (7635): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.732988] sh (7637): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.738836] sh (7639): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.740568] sh (7641): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.743053] sh (7640): drop_caches: 3 [ 293.821889] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 293.824654] kernel BUG at fs/f2fs/node.c:3334! [ 293.826226] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [ 293.828713] CPU: 0 PID: 7653 Comm: umount Tainted: G OE 5.17.0-rc1-custom #1 [ 293.830946] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 [ 293.832526] RIP: 0010:f2fs_destroy_node_manager+0x33f/0x350 [f2fs] [ 293.833905] Code: e8 d6 3d f9 f9 48 8b 45 d0 65 48 2b 04 25 28 00 00 00 75 1a 48 81 c4 28 03 00 00 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 0f 0b [ 293.837783] RSP: 0018:ffffb04ec31e7a20 EFLAGS: 00010202 [ 293.839062] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff9df947db2eb8 RCX: 0000000080aa0072 [ 293.840666] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffe86c0432a140 RDI: ffffffffc0b72a21 [ 293.842261] RBP: ffffb04ec31e7d70 R08: ffff9df94ca85780 R09: 0000000080aa0072 [ 293.843909] R10: ffff9df94ca85700 R11: ffff9df94e1ccf58 R12: ffff9df947db2e00 [ 293.845594] R13: ffff9df947db2ed0 R14: ffff9df947db2eb8 R15: ffff9df947db2eb8 [ 293.847855] FS: 00007f5a97379800(0000) GS:ffff9dfa77c00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 293.850647] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 293.852940] CR2: 00007f5a97528730 CR3: 000000010bc76005 CR4: 0000000000370ef0 [ 293.854680] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 293.856423] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 293.858380] Call Trace: [ 293.859302] [ 293.860311] ? ttwu_do_wakeup+0x1c/0x170 [ 293.861800] ? ttwu_do_activate+0x6d/0xb0 [ 293.863057] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x29/0x40 [ 293.864411] ? try_to_wake_up+0x9d/0x5e0 [ 293.865618] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x17/0x20 [ 293.866934] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x17/0x20 [ 293.868223] ? free_unref_page+0xbf/0x120 [ 293.869470] ? __free_slab+0xcb/0x1c0 [ 293.870614] ? preempt_count_add+0x7a/0xc0 [ 293.871811] ? __slab_free+0xa0/0x2d0 [ 293.872918] ? __wake_up_common_lock+0x8a/0xc0 [ 293.874186] ? __slab_free+0xa0/0x2d0 [ 293.875305] ? free_inode_nonrcu+0x20/0x20 [ 293.876466] ? free_inode_nonrcu+0x20/0x20 [ 293.877650] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x17/0x20 [ 293.878949] ? call_rcu+0x11a/0x240 [ 293.880060] ? f2fs_destroy_stats+0x59/0x60 [f2fs] [ 293.881437] ? kfree+0x1fe/0x230 [ 293.882674] f2fs_put_super+0x160/0x390 [f2fs] [ 293.883978] generic_shutdown_super+0x7a/0x120 [ 293.885274] kill_block_super+0x27/0x50 [ 293.886496] kill_f2fs_super+0x7f/0x100 [f2fs] [ 293.887806] deactivate_locked_super+0x35/0xa0 [ 293.889271] deactivate_super+0x40/0x50 [ 293.890513] cleanup_mnt+0x139/0x190 [ 293.891689] __cleanup_mnt+0x12/0x20 [ 293.892850] task_work_run+0x64/0xa0 [ 293.894035] exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x1b7/ ---truncated---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2022-49255 since 02/26/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/21/2025).

Upgrading to version 5.4.189, 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19 or 5.17.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 005f9cdab70c915702254c5eb67a8efced80e821/1a11a873749c6375bb668953fa1a196d8538d26b/d1eaaf6cadedf638e17017b0a04d56308405ac10/aa80bf73e3b3fb7026d343c77b3ddc849e26a095/8579b413af100ec5f3592bd6cf11559312b380c0/2fef99b8372c1ae3d8445ab570e888b5a358dbe9 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

• 5.4.188
• 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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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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