Linux Kernel up to 5.4.222/5.10.152/5.15.76/6.0.6 Async Command Interface wake_up use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.222/5.10.152/5.15.76/6.0.6. It has been classified as critical. This issue affects the function wake_up of the component Async Command Interface. The manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-50726. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.222/5.10.152/5.15.76/6.0.6. This issue affects the function wake_up of the component Async Command Interface. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: Fix possible use-after-free in async command interface mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx should return only after all its callback handlers were completed. Before this patch, the below race between mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx and mlx5_cmd_exec_cb_handler was possible and lead to a use-after-free: 1. mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx is called while num_inflight is 2 (i.e. elevated by 1, a single inflight callback). 2. mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx decreases num_inflight to 1. 3. mlx5_cmd_exec_cb_handler is called, decreases num_inflight to 0 and is about to call wake_up(). 4. mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx calls wait_event, which returns immediately as the condition (num_inflight == 0) holds. 5. mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx returns. 6. The caller of mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx frees the mlx5_async_ctx object. 7. mlx5_cmd_exec_cb_handler goes on and calls wake_up() on the freed object. Fix it by syncing using a completion object. Mark it completed when num_inflight reaches 0. Trace: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in do_raw_spin_lock+0x23d/0x270 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888139cd12f4 by task swapper/5/0 CPU: 5 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/5 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc3_for_upstream_debug_2022_08_30_13_10 #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl+0x57/0x7d print_report.cold+0x2d5/0x684 ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x23d/0x270 kasan_report+0xb1/0x1a0 ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x23d/0x270 do_raw_spin_lock+0x23d/0x270 ? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90 ? __delete_object+0xb8/0x100 ? lock_downgrade+0x6e0/0x6e0 _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x43/0x60 ? __wake_up_common_lock+0xb9/0x140 __wake_up_common_lock+0xb9/0x140 ? __wake_up_common+0x650/0x650 ? destroy_tis_callback+0x53/0x70 [mlx5_core] ? kasan_set_track+0x21/0x30 ? destroy_tis_callback+0x53/0x70 [mlx5_core] ? kfree+0x1ba/0x520 ? do_raw_spin_unlock+0x54/0x220 mlx5_cmd_exec_cb_handler+0x136/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] ? mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx+0x220/0x220 [mlx5_core] ? mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx+0x220/0x220 [mlx5_core] mlx5_cmd_comp_handler+0x65a/0x12b0 [mlx5_core] ? dump_command+0xcc0/0xcc0 [mlx5_core] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x400/0x400 ? cmd_comp_notifier+0x7e/0xb0 [mlx5_core] cmd_comp_notifier+0x7e/0xb0 [mlx5_core] atomic_notifier_call_chain+0xd7/0x1d0 mlx5_eq_async_int+0x3ce/0xa20 [mlx5_core] atomic_notifier_call_chain+0xd7/0x1d0 ? irq_release+0x140/0x140 [mlx5_core] irq_int_handler+0x19/0x30 [mlx5_core] __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x1f2/0x620 handle_irq_event+0xb2/0x1d0 handle_edge_irq+0x21e/0xb00 __common_interrupt+0x79/0x1a0 common_interrupt+0x78/0xa0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40 RIP: 0010:default_idle+0x42/0x60 Code: c1 83 e0 07 48 c1 e9 03 83 c0 03 0f b6 14 11 38 d0 7c 04 84 d2 75 14 8b 05 eb 47 22 02 85 c0 7e 07 0f 00 2d e0 9f 48 00 fb f4 <c3> 48 c7 c7 80 08 7f 85 e8 d1 d3 3e fe eb de 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 RSP: 0018:ffff888100dbfdf0 EFLAGS: 00000242 RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffffffff84ecbd48 RCX: 1ffffffff0afe110 RDX: 0000000000000004 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff835cc9bc RBP: 0000000000000005 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffff88881dec4ac3 R10: ffffed1103bd8958 R11: 0000017d0ca571c9 R12: 0000000000000005 R13: ffffffff84f024e0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: dffffc0000000000 ? default_idle_call+0xcc/0x450 default_idle_call+0xec/0x450 do_idle+0x394/0x450 ? arch_cpu_idle_exit+0x40/0x40 ? do_idle+0x17/0x450 cpu_startup_entry+0x19/0x20 start_secondary+0x221/0x2b0 ? set_cpu_sibling_map+0x2070/0x2070 secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0xcd/0xdb </TASK> Allocated by task 49502: kasan_save_stack+0x1e/0x40 __kasan_kmalloc+0x81/0xa0 kvmalloc_node+0x48/0xe0 mlx5e_bulk_async_init+0x35/0x110 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_tls_priv_tx_list_cleanup+0x84/0x3e0 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_ktls_cleanup_tx+0x38f/0x760 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_cleanup_nic_tx+0xa7/0x100 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_detach_netdev+0x1c ---truncated---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-50726 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 04/21/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279889 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-50726), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.223, 5.10.153, 5.15.77 or 6.0.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 69dd3ad406c49aa69ce4852c15231ac56af8caf9/bbcc06933f35651294ea1e963757502312c2171f/ab3de780c176bb91995c6166a576b370d9726e17/0aa3ee1e4e5c9ed5dda11249450d609c3072c54e/bacd22df95147ed673bec4692ab2d4d585935241 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 (279889) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality 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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.4.222
• 5.10.152
• 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
• 6.0.0
• 6.0.1
• 6.0.2
• 6.0.3
• 6.0.4
• 6.0.5
• 6.0.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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