CVE-2022-50396

  • Published: 2025-09-18T14:15:38.737

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: sched: fix memory leak in tcindex_set_parms

Syzkaller reports a memory leak as follows:
====================================
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff88810c287f00 (size 256):
comm “syz-executor105”, pid 3600, jiffies 4294943292 (age 12.990s)
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:
[] kmalloc_trace+0x20/0x90 mm/slab_common.c:1046
[] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:576 [inline]
[] kmalloc_array include/linux/slab.h:627 [inline]
[] kcalloc include/linux/slab.h:659 [inline]
[] tcf_exts_init include/net/pkt_cls.h:250 [inline]
[] tcindex_set_parms+0xa7/0xbe0 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:342
[] tcindex_change+0xdf/0x120 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:553
[] tc_new_tfilter+0x4f2/0x1100 net/sched/cls_api.c:2147
[] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x4dc/0x5d0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6082
[] netlink_rcv_skb+0x87/0x1d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2540
[] netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline]
[] netlink_unicast+0x397/0x4c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345
[] netlink_sendmsg+0x396/0x710 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921
[] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline]
[] sock_sendmsg+0x56/0x80 net/socket.c:734
[] ____sys_sendmsg+0x178/0x410 net/socket.c:2482
[] ___sys_sendmsg+0xa8/0x110 net/socket.c:2536
[] __sys_sendmmsg+0x105/0x330 net/socket.c:2622
[] __do_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2651 [inline]
[] __se_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2648 [inline]
[] __x64_sys_sendmmsg+0x24/0x30 net/socket.c:2648
[] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
[] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
[] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
====================================

Kernel uses tcindex_change() to change an existing
filter properties.

Yet the problem is that, during the process of changing,
if `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, then
kernel uses tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly
allocate filter results, uses tcindex_filter_result_init()
to clear the old filter result, without destroying
its tcf_exts structure, which triggers the above memory leak.

To be more specific, there are only two source for the `old_r`,
according to the tcindex_lookup(). `old_r` is retrieved from
`p->perfect`, or `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`.

* If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, kernel uses
tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly allocate the
filter results. Then `r` is assigned with `cp->perfect + handle`,
which is newly allocated. So condition `old_r && old_r != r` is
true in this situation, and kernel uses tcindex_filter_result_init()
to clear the old filter result, without destroying
its tcf_exts structure

* If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`, then `p->perfect` is NULL
according to the tcindex_lookup(). Considering that `cp->h`
is directly copied from `p->h` and `p->perfect` is NULL,
`r` is assigned with `tcindex_lookup(cp, handle)`, whose value
should be the same as `old_r`, so condition `old_r && old_r != r`
is false in this situation, kernel ignores using
tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result.

So only when `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect` does kernel use
tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, which
triggers the above memory leak.

Considering that there already exists a tc_filter_wq workqueue
to destroy the old tcindex_d
—truncated—

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No related CWE found.

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How to fix CVE-2022-50396

CVE-2022-50396 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: sched: fix memory leak in tcindex_set_parms Syzkaller reports a memory leak as follows: ==================================== BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810c287f00 (size 256): comm “syz-executor105”, pid 3600, jiffies 4294943292 (age 12.990s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Sep 18, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.