CVE-2022-50661

EPSS 0.0%
  • Published: 2025-12-09T16:17:17.757

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

seccomp: Move copy_seccomp() to no failure path.

Our syzbot instance reported memory leaks in do_seccomp() [0], similar
to the report [1]. It shows that we miss freeing struct seccomp_filter
and some objects included in it.

We can reproduce the issue with the program below [2] which calls one
seccomp() and two clone() syscalls.

The first clone()d child exits earlier than its parent and sends a
signal to kill it during the second clone(), more precisely before the
fatal_signal_pending() test in copy_process(). When the parent receives
the signal, it has to destroy the embryonic process and return -EINTR to
user space. In the failure path, we have to call seccomp_filter_release()
to decrement the filter’s refcount.

Initially, we called it in free_task() called from the failure path, but
the commit 3a15fb6ed92c (“seccomp: release filter after task is fully
dead”) moved it to release_task() to notify user space as early as possible
that the filter is no longer used.

To keep the change and current seccomp refcount semantics, let’s move
copy_seccomp() just after the signal check and add a WARN_ON_ONCE() in
free_task() for future debugging.

[0]:
unreferenced object 0xffff8880063add00 (size 256):
comm “repro_seccomp”, pid 230, jiffies 4294687090 (age 9.914s)
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff …………….
backtrace:
do_seccomp (./include/linux/slab.h:600 ./include/linux/slab.h:733 kernel/seccomp.c:666 kernel/seccomp.c:708 kernel/seccomp.c:1871 kernel/seccomp.c:1991)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120)
unreferenced object 0xffffc90000035000 (size 4096):
comm “repro_seccomp”, pid 230, jiffies 4294687090 (age 9.915s)
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 …………….
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
backtrace:
__vmalloc_node_range (mm/vmalloc.c:3226)
__vmalloc_node (mm/vmalloc.c:3261 (discriminator 4))
bpf_prog_alloc_no_stats (kernel/bpf/core.c:91)
bpf_prog_alloc (kernel/bpf/core.c:129)
bpf_prog_create_from_user (net/core/filter.c:1414)
do_seccomp (kernel/seccomp.c:671 kernel/seccomp.c:708 kernel/seccomp.c:1871 kernel/seccomp.c:1991)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120)
unreferenced object 0xffff888003fa1000 (size 1024):
comm “repro_seccomp”, pid 230, jiffies 4294687090 (age 9.915s)
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:
bpf_prog_alloc_no_stats (./include/linux/slab.h:600 ./include/linux/slab.h:733 kernel/bpf/core.c:95)
bpf_prog_alloc (kernel/bpf/core.c:129)
bpf_prog_create_from_user (net/core/filter.c:1414)
do_seccomp (kernel/seccomp.c:671 kernel/seccomp.c:708 kernel/seccomp.c:1871 kernel/seccomp.c:1991)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120)
unreferenced object 0xffff888006360240 (size 16):
comm “repro_seccomp”, pid 230, jiffies 4294687090 (age 9.915s)
hex dump (first 16 bytes):
01 00 37 00 76 65 72 6c e0 83 01 06 80 88 ff ff ..7.verl……..
backtrace:
bpf_prog_store_orig_filter (net/core/filter.c:1137)
bpf_prog_create_from_user (net/core/filter.c:1428)
do_seccomp (kernel/seccomp.c:671 kernel/seccomp.c:708 kernel/seccomp.c:1871 kernel/seccomp.c:1991)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:120)
unreferenced object 0xffff888
—truncated—

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How to fix CVE-2022-50661

CVE-2022-50661 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: seccomp: Move copy_seccomp() to no failure path. Our syzbot instance reported memory leaks in do_seccomp() [0], similar to the report [1]. It shows that we miss freeing struct seccomp_filter and some objects included in it. We can reproduce the issue with the program below [2] […]

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

Dec 09, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Dec 09, 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.