Linux Kernel up to 6.0.6 nfqnl_nf_hook_drop use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 4.19.263/5.4.222/5.10.152/5.15.76/6.0.6. It has been declared as critical. Affected is the function nfqnl_nf_hook_drop. The manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2022-50780. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 4.19.263/5.4.222/5.10.152/5.15.76/6.0.6. Affected is the function nfqnl_nf_hook_drop. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: fix UAF issue in nfqnl_nf_hook_drop() when ops_init() failed When the ops_init() interface is invoked to initialize the net, but ops->init() fails, data is released. However, the ptr pointer in net->gen is invalid. In this case, when nfqnl_nf_hook_drop() is invoked to release the net, invalid address access occurs. The process is as follows: setup_net() ops_init() data = kzalloc(...) ---> alloc "data" net_assign_generic() ---> assign "date" to ptr in net->gen ... ops->init() ---> failed ... kfree(data); ---> ptr in net->gen is invalid ... ops_exit_list() ... nfqnl_nf_hook_drop() *q = nfnl_queue_pernet(net) ---> q is invalid The following is the Call Trace information: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in nfqnl_nf_hook_drop+0x264/0x280 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810396b240 by task ip/15855 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x8e/0xd1 print_report+0x155/0x454 kasan_report+0xba/0x1f0 nfqnl_nf_hook_drop+0x264/0x280 nf_queue_nf_hook_drop+0x8b/0x1b0 __nf_unregister_net_hook+0x1ae/0x5a0 nf_unregister_net_hooks+0xde/0x130 ops_exit_list+0xb0/0x170 setup_net+0x7ac/0xbd0 copy_net_ns+0x2e6/0x6b0 create_new_namespaces+0x382/0xa50 unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0xa6/0x1c0 ksys_unshare+0x3a4/0x7e0 __x64_sys_unshare+0x2d/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> Allocated by task 15855: kasan_save_stack+0x1e/0x40 kasan_set_track+0x21/0x30 __kasan_kmalloc+0xa1/0xb0 __kmalloc+0x49/0xb0 ops_init+0xe7/0x410 setup_net+0x5aa/0xbd0 copy_net_ns+0x2e6/0x6b0 create_new_namespaces+0x382/0xa50 unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0xa6/0x1c0 ksys_unshare+0x3a4/0x7e0 __x64_sys_unshare+0x2d/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 Freed by task 15855: kasan_save_stack+0x1e/0x40 kasan_set_track+0x21/0x30 kasan_save_free_info+0x2a/0x40 ____kasan_slab_free+0x155/0x1b0 slab_free_freelist_hook+0x11b/0x220 __kmem_cache_free+0xa4/0x360 ops_init+0xb9/0x410 setup_net+0x5aa/0xbd0 copy_net_ns+0x2e6/0x6b0 create_new_namespaces+0x382/0xa50 unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0xa6/0x1c0 ksys_unshare+0x3a4/0x7e0 __x64_sys_unshare+0x2d/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-50780 since 12/24/2025. The exploitability is told 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 04/22/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279856 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-50780), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.19.264, 5.4.223, 5.10.153, 5.15.77 or 6.0.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 5a2ea549be94924364f6911227d99be86e8cf34a/97ad240fd9aa9214497d14af2b91608e20856cac/c3edc6e808209aa705185f732e682a370981ced1/a1e18acb0246bfb001b08b8b1b830b5ec92a0f13/4a4df5e78712de39d6f90d6a64b5eb48dca03bd5/d266935ac43d57586e311a087510fe6a084af742 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 (279856) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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

• 4.19.263
• 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

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Discussion