CVE-2022-49812 | bridge: switchdev: Fix memory leaks when changing VLAN protocol

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bridge: switchdev: Fix memory leaks when changing VLAN protocol The bridge driver can offload VLANs to the underlying hardware either via switchdev or the 8021q driver. When the former is used, the VLAN is marked in the bridge driver with the 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV' private flag. To avoid the memory leaks mentioned in the cited commit, the bridge driver will try to delete a VLAN via the 8021q driver if the VLAN is not marked with the previously mentioned flag. When the VLAN protocol of the bridge changes, switchdev drivers are notified via the 'SWITCHDEV_ATTR_ID_BRIDGE_VLAN_PROTOCOL' attribute, but the 8021q driver is also called to add the existing VLANs with the new protocol and delete them with the old protocol. In case the VLANs were offloaded via switchdev, the above behavior is both redundant and buggy. Redundant because the VLANs are already programmed in hardware and drivers that support VLAN protocol change (currently only mlx5) change the protocol upon the switchdev attribute notification. Buggy because the 8021q driver is called despite these VLANs being marked with 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV'. This leads to memory leaks [1] when the VLANs are deleted. Fix by not calling the 8021q driver for VLANs that were already programmed via switchdev. [1] unreferenced object 0xffff8881f6771200 (size 256): comm "ip", pid 446855, jiffies 4298238841 (age 55.240s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 7f 0e 83 88 ff ff 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: [<00000000012819ac>] vlan_vid_add+0x437/0x750 [<00000000f2281fad>] __br_vlan_set_proto+0x289/0x920 [<000000000632b56f>] br_changelink+0x3d6/0x13f0 [<0000000089d25f04>] __rtnl_newlink+0x8ae/0x14c0 [<00000000f6276baf>] rtnl_newlink+0x5f/0x90 [<00000000746dc902>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x336/0xa00 [<000000001c2241c0>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x11d/0x340 [<0000000010588814>] netlink_unicast+0x438/0x710 [<00000000e1a4cd5c>] netlink_sendmsg+0x788/0xc40 [<00000000e8992d4e>] sock_sendmsg+0xb0/0xe0 [<00000000621b8f91>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x4ff/0x6d0 [<000000000ea26996>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x12e/0x1b0 [<00000000684f7e25>] __sys_sendmsg+0xab/0x130 [<000000004538b104>] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 [<0000000091ed9678>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49812 is rated Low Risk (27.6/100): 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-2022-49812

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 2026-02-25 0.03% 0.05% +0.02%
2 2025-11-08 0.07% 0.03% -0.04%
3 2025-07-01 0.07%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49812

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-2022-49812

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49812

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49812 not yet assigned 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-2022-49812
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49812
suse low https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49812/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49812 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 121, released 116, needed 22, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49812

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49812

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.0.1, < 5.10.157 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 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 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.0:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:*
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-2022-49812

cvelogic Threat Intelligence