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

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been 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 free_watch. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2022-49256. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.109/5.15.32/5.16.18/5.17.1. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function free_watch. 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: watch_queue: Actually free the watch free_watch() does everything barring actually freeing the watch object. Fix this by adding the missing kfree. kmemleak produces a report something like the following. Note that as an address can be seen in the first word, the watch would appear to have gone through call_rcu(). BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810ce4a200 (size 96): comm "syz-executor352", pid 3605, jiffies 4294947473 (age 13.720s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): e0 82 48 0d 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..H............. 80 a2 e4 0c 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:581 [inline] [] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:714 [inline] [] keyctl_watch_key+0xec/0x2e0 security/keys/keyctl.c:1800 [] __do_sys_keyctl+0x3c4/0x490 security/keys/keyctl.c:2016 [] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49256 since 02/26/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19 or 5.17.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 9d92be1a09fbb3dd65600dbfe7eedb40e7228e4b/f69aecb49968e14196366bbe896eab0a904229f5/7e8c9b0df07a77f0d072603b8ced2677e30e1893/31824613a42aacdcbeb325bf07a1c8247a11ebe2/3d8dcf278b1ee1eff1e90be848fa2237db4c07a7 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 CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2107). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• Dell NetWorker

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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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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