Linux Kernel up to 5.19.6 ftrace is_ftrace_trampoline null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.19.6. This issue affects the function is_ftrace_trampoline of the component ftrace. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2022-49977. There is no available exploit. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.19.6 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function is_ftrace_trampoline of the component ftrace. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ftrace: Fix NULL pointer dereference in is_ftrace_trampoline when ftrace is dead ftrace_startup does not remove ops from ftrace_ops_list when ftrace_startup_enable fails: register_ftrace_function ftrace_startup __register_ftrace_function ... add_ftrace_ops(&ftrace_ops_list, ops) ... ... ftrace_startup_enable // if ftrace failed to modify, ftrace_disabled is set to 1 ... return 0 // ops is in the ftrace_ops_list. When ftrace_disabled = 1, unregister_ftrace_function simply returns without doing anything: unregister_ftrace_function ftrace_shutdown if (unlikely(ftrace_disabled)) return -ENODEV; // return here, __unregister_ftrace_function is not executed, // as a result, ops is still in the ftrace_ops_list __unregister_ftrace_function ... If ops is dynamically allocated, it will be free later, in this case, is_ftrace_trampoline accesses NULL pointer: is_ftrace_trampoline ftrace_ops_trampoline do_for_each_ftrace_op(op, ftrace_ops_list) // OOPS! op may be NULL! Syzkaller reports as follows: [ 1203.506103] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000010b [ 1203.508039] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 1203.508798] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 1203.509558] PGD 800000011660b067 P4D 800000011660b067 PUD 130fb8067 PMD 0 [ 1203.510560] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN PTI [ 1203.511189] CPU: 6 PID: 29532 Comm: syz-executor.2 Tainted: G B W 5.10.0 #8 [ 1203.512324] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 1203.513895] RIP: 0010:is_ftrace_trampoline+0x26/0xb0 [ 1203.514644] Code: ff eb d3 90 41 55 41 54 49 89 fc 55 53 e8 f2 00 fd ff 48 8b 1d 3b 35 5d 03 e8 e6 00 fd ff 48 8d bb 90 00 00 00 e8 2a 81 26 00 <48> 8b ab 90 00 00 00 48 85 ed 74 1d e8 c9 00 fd ff 48 8d bb 98 00 [ 1203.518838] RSP: 0018:ffffc900012cf960 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 1203.520092] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 000000000000007b RCX: ffffffff8a331866 [ 1203.521469] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: 000000000000010b [ 1203.522583] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffffff8df18b07 [ 1203.523550] R10: fffffbfff1be3160 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000478399 [ 1203.524596] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff888145088000 R15: 0000000000000008 [ 1203.525634] FS: 00007f429f5f4700(0000) GS:ffff8881daf00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 1203.526801] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 1203.527626] CR2: 000000000000010b CR3: 0000000170e1e001 CR4: 00000000003706e0 [ 1203.528611] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 1203.529605] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Therefore, when ftrace_startup_enable fails, we need to rollback registration process and remove ops from ftrace_ops_list.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49977 since 06/18/2025. 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 242893 (RHEL 8 : kernel (RHSA-2025:11850)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.9.327, 4.14.292, 4.19.257, 5.4.212, 5.10.141, 5.15.65 or 5.19.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8569b4ada1e0b9bfaa125bd0c0967918b6560fa2/4c34a2a6c9927c239dd2e295a03d49b37b618d2c/ddffe882d74ef43a3494f0ab0c24baf076c45f96/934e49f7d696afdae9f979abe3f308408184e17b/dbd8c8fc60480e3faa3ae7e27ebe03371ecd1b77/e4ae97295984ff1b9b340ed18ae1b066f36b7835/d81bd6671f45fde4c3ac7fd7733c6e3082ae9d8e/c3b0f72e805f0801f05fa2aa52011c4bfc694c44 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 databases at Tenable (242893) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1350). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• 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 Avamar
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 4.9.326
• 4.14.291
• 4.19.256
• 5.4.211
• 5.10.140
• 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
• 5.19.0
• 5.19.1
• 5.19.2
• 5.19.3
• 5.19.4
• 5.19.5
• 5.19.6

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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