Linux Kernel up to 5.15.62/5.19.3 knlGS pt_regs null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.62/5.19.3. It has been rated as critical. Impacted is the function pt_regs of the component knlGS. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2022-50078. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.62/5.19.3. This issue affects the function pt_regs of the component knlGS. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing/eprobes: Do not allow eprobes to use $stack, or % for regs While playing with event probes (eprobes), I tried to see what would happen if I attempted to retrieve the instruction pointer (%rip) knowing that event probes do not use pt_regs. The result was: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000024 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 1 PID: 1847 Comm: trace-cmd Not tainted 5.19.0-rc5-test+ #309 Hardware name: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq Pro 6300 SFF/339A, BIOS K01 v03.03 07/14/2016 RIP: 0010:get_event_field.isra.0+0x0/0x50 Code: ff 48 c7 c7 c0 8f 74 a1 e8 3d 8b f5 ff e8 88 09 f6 ff 4c 89 e7 e8 50 6a 13 00 48 89 ef 5b 5d 41 5c 41 5d e9 42 6a 13 00 66 90 <48> 63 47 24 8b 57 2c 48 01 c6 8b 47 28 83 f8 02 74 0e 83 f8 04 74 RSP: 0018:ffff916c394bbaf0 EFLAGS: 00010086 RAX: ffff916c854041d8 RBX: ffff916c8d9fbf50 RCX: ffff916c255d2000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff916c255d2008 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ffff916c3a2a0c08 R09: ffff916c394bbda8 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff916c854041d8 R13: ffff916c854041b0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff916c9ea40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000024 CR3: 000000011b60a002 CR4: 00000000001706e0 Call Trace: <TASK> get_eprobe_size+0xb4/0x640 ? __mod_node_page_state+0x72/0xc0 __eprobe_trace_func+0x59/0x1a0 ? __mod_lruvec_page_state+0xaa/0x1b0 ? page_remove_file_rmap+0x14/0x230 ? page_remove_rmap+0xda/0x170 event_triggers_call+0x52/0xe0 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x18f/0x240 trace_event_raw_event_sched_wakeup_template+0x7a/0xb0 try_to_wake_up+0x260/0x4c0 __wake_up_common+0x80/0x180 __wake_up_common_lock+0x7c/0xc0 do_notify_parent+0x1c9/0x2a0 exit_notify+0x1a9/0x220 do_exit+0x2ba/0x450 do_group_exit+0x2d/0x90 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x14/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 Obviously this is not the desired result. Move the testing for TPARG_FL_TPOINT which is only used for event probes to the top of the "$" variable check, as all the other variables are not used for event probes. Also add a check in the register parsing "%" to fail if an event probe is used.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-50078 since 06/18/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 5.15.63 or 5.19.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch ba53c21ce9773743b8e0a8ada048c96ff2d55c67/7c262114a576d94c0ced80e232bbb17391a55908/2673c60ee67e71f2ebe34386e62d348f71edee47 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-2025-1350). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best 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

• 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
• 5.19.0
• 5.19.1
• 5.19.2
• 5.19.3

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

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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