CVE-2022-49636 | vlan: fix memory leak in vlan_newlink()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vlan: fix memory leak in vlan_newlink() Blamed commit added back a bug I fixed in commit 9bbd917e0bec ("vlan: fix memory leak in vlan_dev_set_egress_priority") If a memory allocation fails in vlan_changelink() after other allocations succeeded, we need to call vlan_dev_free_egress_priority() to free all allocated memory because after a failed ->newlink() we do not call any methods like ndo_uninit() or dev->priv_destructor(). In following example, if the allocation for last element 2000:2001 fails, we need to free eight prior allocations: ip link add link dummy0 dummy0.100 type vlan id 100 \ egress-qos-map 1:2 2:3 3:4 4:5 5:6 6:7 7:8 8:9 2000:2001 syzbot report was: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff888117bd1060 (size 32): comm "syz-executor408", pid 3759, jiffies 4294956555 (age 34.090s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 09 00 00 00 00 a0 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: [<ffffffff83fc60ad>] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:600 [inline] [<ffffffff83fc60ad>] vlan_dev_set_egress_priority+0xed/0x170 net/8021q/vlan_dev.c:193 [<ffffffff83fc6628>] vlan_changelink+0x178/0x1d0 net/8021q/vlan_netlink.c:128 [<ffffffff83fc67c8>] vlan_newlink+0x148/0x260 net/8021q/vlan_netlink.c:185 [<ffffffff838b1278>] rtnl_newlink_create net/core/rtnetlink.c:3363 [inline] [<ffffffff838b1278>] __rtnl_newlink+0xa58/0xdc0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3580 [<ffffffff838b1629>] rtnl_newlink+0x49/0x70 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3593 [<ffffffff838ac66c>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x21c/0x5c0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6089 [<ffffffff839f9c37>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x87/0x1d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2501 [<ffffffff839f8da7>] netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] [<ffffffff839f8da7>] netlink_unicast+0x397/0x4c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 [<ffffffff839f9266>] netlink_sendmsg+0x396/0x710 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 [<ffffffff8384dbf6>] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] [<ffffffff8384dbf6>] sock_sendmsg+0x56/0x80 net/socket.c:734 [<ffffffff8384e15c>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x36c/0x390 net/socket.c:2488 [<ffffffff838523cb>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x8b/0xd0 net/socket.c:2542 [<ffffffff838525b8>] __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2571 [inline] [<ffffffff838525b8>] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2580 [inline] [<ffffffff838525b8>] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2578 [inline] [<ffffffff838525b8>] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x78/0xf0 net/socket.c:2578 [<ffffffff845ad8d5>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff845ad8d5>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff8460006a>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

Published: 2025-02-26 Last update: 2025-04-10 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49636 is rated Low Risk (27.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). 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-2022-49636

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 2025-11-22 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2025-11-21 0.06% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2025-11-18 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49636

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-2022-49636

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49636

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-49636 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-49636
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49636
suse medium CVE-2022-49636 severity moderate: SUSE including 73 source package names (bpftool-4.18.0-477.10.1.el8_8, bpftool-7.0.0-284.11.1.el9_2, …), 292 product×package rows across 48 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Liberty Linux 8, … (48 product lines)): Known Not Affected 245, Fixed 47. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49636/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49636 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 146, released 145, not-affected 114, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49636

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49636

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.142, < 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.17, < 5.18.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49636

cvelogic Threat Intelligence