Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9 tracing tracing_read_pipe memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9. This vulnerability affects the function tracing_read_pipe of the component tracing. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-49801. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.79/6.0.9. Affected by this vulnerability is the function tracing_read_pipe of the component tracing. 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: tracing: Fix memory leak in tracing_read_pipe() kmemleak reports this issue: unreferenced object 0xffff888105a18900 (size 128): comm "test_progs", pid 18933, jiffies 4336275356 (age 22801.766s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 25 73 00 90 81 88 ff ff 26 05 00 00 42 01 58 04 %s......&...B.X. 03 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<00000000560143a1>] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x4a/0x140 [<000000006af00822>] krealloc+0x8d/0xf0 [<00000000c309be6a>] trace_iter_expand_format+0x99/0x150 [<000000005a53bdb6>] trace_check_vprintf+0x1e0/0x11d0 [<0000000065629d9d>] trace_event_printf+0xb6/0xf0 [<000000009a690dc7>] trace_raw_output_bpf_trace_printk+0x89/0xc0 [<00000000d22db172>] print_trace_line+0x73c/0x1480 [<00000000cdba76ba>] tracing_read_pipe+0x45c/0x9f0 [<0000000015b58459>] vfs_read+0x17b/0x7c0 [<000000004aeee8ed>] ksys_read+0xed/0x1c0 [<0000000063d3d898>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [<00000000a06dda7f>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd iter->fmt alloced in tracing_read_pipe() -> .. ->trace_iter_expand_format(), but not freed, to fix, add free in tracing_release_pipe()

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49801 since 05/01/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271309 (EulerOS 2.0 SP13 : kernel (EulerOS-SA-2025-2264)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.80 or 6.0.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2c21ee020ce43d744ecd7f3e9bddfcaafef270ce/a7d3f8f33c113478737bc61bb32ec5f9a987da7d/649e72070cbbb8600eb823833e4748f5a0815116 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 (271309). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion