Linux Kernel up to 5.15.76/6.0.6 nfc virtual_nci_send memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.76/6.0.6 and classified as critical. Affected is the function virtual_nci_send of the component nfc. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2022-50854. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.76/6.0.6. Affected by this vulnerability is the function virtual_nci_send of the component nfc. 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: nfc: virtual_ncidev: Fix memory leak in virtual_nci_send() skb should be free in virtual_nci_send(), otherwise kmemleak will report memleak. Steps for reproduction (simulated in qemu): cd tools/testing/selftests/nci make ./nci_dev BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff888107588000 (size 208): comm "nci_dev", pid 206, jiffies 4294945376 (age 368.248s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<000000008d94c8fd>] __alloc_skb+0x1da/0x290 [<00000000278bc7f8>] nci_send_cmd+0xa3/0x350 [<0000000081256a22>] nci_reset_req+0x6b/0xa0 [<000000009e721112>] __nci_request+0x90/0x250 [<000000005d556e59>] nci_dev_up+0x217/0x5b0 [<00000000e618ce62>] nfc_dev_up+0x114/0x220 [<00000000981e226b>] nfc_genl_dev_up+0x94/0xe0 [<000000009bb03517>] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.14+0x228/0x2d0 [<00000000b7f8c101>] genl_rcv_msg+0x35c/0x640 [<00000000c94075ff>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x11e/0x350 [<00000000440cfb1e>] genl_rcv+0x24/0x40 [<0000000062593b40>] netlink_unicast+0x43f/0x640 [<000000001d0b13cc>] netlink_sendmsg+0x73a/0xbf0 [<000000003272487f>] __sys_sendto+0x324/0x370 [<00000000ef9f1747>] __x64_sys_sendto+0xdd/0x1b0 [<000000001e437841>] do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-50854 since 12/30/2025. 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 281728 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-50854), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.77 or 6.0.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 88e879c9f59511174ef0ab1a3c9c83e2dbf8a213/2c46a9a5f0b1c7341aa67667801079f3ff571678/e840d8f4a1b323973052a1af5ad4edafcde8ae3d 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 (281728) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2941). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• IBM Power Hardware Management Console
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• IBM DataPower Gateway

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
• 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/

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Entryinfo

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