Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9 kernel/events/core.c __perf_event_overflow stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9. Affected by this issue is the function __perf_event_overflow of the file kernel/events/core.c. Executing a manipulation can lead to stack-based overflow. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-49782. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects the function __perf_event_overflow of the file kernel/events/core.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-121. A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: Improve missing SIGTRAP checking To catch missing SIGTRAP we employ a WARN in __perf_event_overflow(), which fires if pending_sigtrap was already set: returning to user space without consuming pending_sigtrap, and then having the event fire again would re-enter the kernel and trigger the WARN. This, however, seemed to miss the case where some events not associated with progress in the user space task can fire and the interrupt handler runs before the IRQ work meant to consume pending_sigtrap (and generate the SIGTRAP). syzbot gifted us this stack trace: | WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3607 at kernel/events/core.c:9313 __perf_event_overflow | Modules linked in: | CPU: 0 PID: 3607 Comm: syz-executor100 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc2-syzkaller-00073-g88619e77b33d #0 | Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/11/2022 | RIP: 0010:__perf_event_overflow+0x498/0x540 kernel/events/core.c:9313 | <...> | Call Trace: | <TASK> | perf_swevent_hrtimer+0x34f/0x3c0 kernel/events/core.c:10729 | __run_hrtimer kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1685 [inline] | __hrtimer_run_queues+0x1c6/0xfb0 kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1749 | hrtimer_interrupt+0x31c/0x790 kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1811 | local_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1096 [inline] | __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x17c/0x640 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1113 | sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x40/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1107 | asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x16/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:649 | <...> | </TASK> In this case, syzbot produced a program with event type PERF_TYPE_SOFTWARE and config PERF_COUNT_SW_CPU_CLOCK. The hrtimer manages to fire again before the IRQ work got a chance to run, all while never having returned to user space. Improve the WARN to check for real progress in user space: approximate this by storing a 32-bit hash of the current IP into pending_sigtrap, and if an event fires while pending_sigtrap still matches the previous IP, we assume no progress (false negatives are possible given we could return to user space and trigger again on the same IP).

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2022-49782 since 05/01/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/07/2025).

Upgrading to version 5.15.80 or 6.0.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 35c60b4e8ca76712dd03bafe2598e31578248916/b09221f1b4944d2866d06ac35e59d7a6f8916c9f/bb88f9695460bec25aa30ba9072595025cf6c8af 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
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.15.75
• 5.15.76
• 5.15.77
• 5.15.78
• 5.15.79
• 6.0.0
• 6.0.1
• 6.0.2
• 6.0.3
• 6.0.4
• 6.0.5
• 6.0.6
• 6.0.7
• 6.0.8
• 6.0.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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