CVE-2022-49801 | tracing: Fix memory leak in tracing_read_pipe()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Fix memory leak in tracing_read_pipe() kmemleak reports this issue: unreferenced object 0xffff888105a18900 (size 128): comm "test_progs", pid 18933, jiffies 4336275356 (age 22801.766s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 25 73 00 90 81 88 ff ff 26 05 00 00 42 01 58 04 %s......&...B.X. 03 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<00000000560143a1>] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0x4a/0x140 [<000000006af00822>] krealloc+0x8d/0xf0 [<00000000c309be6a>] trace_iter_expand_format+0x99/0x150 [<000000005a53bdb6>] trace_check_vprintf+0x1e0/0x11d0 [<0000000065629d9d>] trace_event_printf+0xb6/0xf0 [<000000009a690dc7>] trace_raw_output_bpf_trace_printk+0x89/0xc0 [<00000000d22db172>] print_trace_line+0x73c/0x1480 [<00000000cdba76ba>] tracing_read_pipe+0x45c/0x9f0 [<0000000015b58459>] vfs_read+0x17b/0x7c0 [<000000004aeee8ed>] ksys_read+0xed/0x1c0 [<0000000063d3d898>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [<00000000a06dda7f>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd iter->fmt alloced in tracing_read_pipe() -> .. ->trace_iter_expand_format(), but not freed, to fix, add free in tracing_release_pipe()

Published: 2025-05-01 Last update: 2025-11-07 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49801 is rated Low Risk (22.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2022-49801

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 2025-05-02 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49801

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-2022-49801

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49801

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49801 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-2022-49801
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49801
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49801/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49801 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, not-affected 143, released 116, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49801

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49801

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.190, < 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.12, < 5.15.80 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49801

cvelogic Threat Intelligence