CVE-2022-49513 | cpufreq: governor: Use kobject release() method to free dbs_data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: governor: Use kobject release() method to free dbs_data The struct dbs_data embeds a struct gov_attr_set and the struct gov_attr_set embeds a kobject. Since every kobject must have a release() method and we can't use kfree() to free it directly, so introduce cpufreq_dbs_data_release() to release the dbs_data via the kobject::release() method. This fixes the calltrace like below: ODEBUG: free active (active state 0) object type: timer_list hint: delayed_work_timer_fn+0x0/0x34 WARNING: CPU: 12 PID: 810 at lib/debugobjects.c:505 debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 Modules linked in: CPU: 12 PID: 810 Comm: sh Not tainted 5.16.0-next-20220120-yocto-standard+ #536 Hardware name: Marvell OcteonTX CN96XX board (DT) pstate: 60400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 lr : debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 sp : ffff80001dfcf9a0 x29: ffff80001dfcf9a0 x28: 0000000000000001 x27: ffff0001464f0000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff8000090e3f00 x24: ffff80000af60210 x23: ffff8000094dfb78 x22: ffff8000090e3f00 x21: ffff0001080b7118 x20: ffff80000aeb2430 x19: ffff800009e8f5e0 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000002 x16: 00004d62e58be040 x15: 013590470523aff8 x14: ffff8000090e1828 x13: 0000000001359047 x12: 00000000f5257d14 x11: 0000000000040591 x10: 0000000066c1ffea x9 : ffff8000080d15e0 x8 : ffff80000a1765a8 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff800009e8c000 x4 : ffff800009e8c760 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0001474ed040 Call trace: debug_print_object+0xb8/0x100 __debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x1d0/0x25c debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x24/0xa0 kfree+0x11c/0x440 cpufreq_dbs_governor_exit+0xa8/0xac cpufreq_exit_governor+0x44/0x90 cpufreq_set_policy+0x29c/0x570 store_scaling_governor+0x110/0x154 store+0xb0/0xe0 sysfs_kf_write+0x58/0x84 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12c/0x1c0 new_sync_write+0xf0/0x18c vfs_write+0x1cc/0x220 ksys_write+0x74/0x100 __arm64_sys_write+0x28/0x3c invoke_syscall.constprop.0+0x58/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x70/0x170 el0_svc+0x54/0x190 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa4/0x130 el0t_64_sync+0x1a0/0x1a4 irq event stamp: 189006 hardirqs last enabled at (189005): [<ffff8000080849d0>] finish_task_switch.isra.0+0xe0/0x2c0 hardirqs last disabled at (189006): [<ffff8000090667a4>] el1_dbg+0x24/0xa0 softirqs last enabled at (188966): [<ffff8000080106d0>] __do_softirq+0x4b0/0x6a0 softirqs last disabled at (188957): [<ffff80000804a618>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x108/0x1a4 [ rjw: Because can be freed by the gov_attr_set_put() in cpufreq_dbs_governor_exit() now, it is also necessary to put the invocation of the governor ->exit() callback into the new cpufreq_dbs_data_release() function. ]

Published: 2025-02-26 Last update: 2025-10-21 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49513 is rated Low Risk (22.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-49513

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-26 0.07% 0.01% -0.06%
2 2026-04-06 0.04% 0.07% +0.03%
3 2025-08-17 0.04%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49513

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-49513

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49513

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49513 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-49513
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49513
suse medium CVE-2022-49513 severity moderate: SUSE including 316 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 466 product×package rows across 41 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-HPC-BYOS, … (41 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 120, Known Not Affected 115. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49513/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49513 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 147, released 116, not-affected 105, needed 37, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49513

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49513

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.6, < 5.15.91 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 5.18.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49513

cvelogic Threat Intelligence