CVE-2022-49853 | net: macvlan: fix memory leaks of macvlan_common_newlink

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: macvlan: fix memory leaks of macvlan_common_newlink kmemleak reports memory leaks in macvlan_common_newlink, as follows: ip link add link eth0 name .. type macvlan mode source macaddr add <MAC-ADDR> kmemleak reports: unreferenced object 0xffff8880109bb140 (size 64): comm "ip", pid 284, jiffies 4294986150 (age 430.108s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b8 aa 5a 12 80 88 ff ff ..........Z..... 80 1b fa 0d 80 88 ff ff 1e ff ac af c7 c1 6b 6b ..............kk backtrace: [<ffffffff813e06a7>] kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x1c7/0x300 [<ffffffff81b66025>] macvlan_hash_add_source+0x45/0xc0 [<ffffffff81b66a67>] macvlan_changelink_sources+0xd7/0x170 [<ffffffff81b6775c>] macvlan_common_newlink+0x38c/0x5a0 [<ffffffff81b6797e>] macvlan_newlink+0xe/0x20 [<ffffffff81d97f8f>] __rtnl_newlink+0x7af/0xa50 [<ffffffff81d98278>] rtnl_newlink+0x48/0x70 ... In the scenario where the macvlan mode is configured as 'source', macvlan_changelink_sources() will be execured to reconfigure list of remote source mac addresses, at the same time, if register_netdevice() return an error, the resource generated by macvlan_changelink_sources() is not cleaned up. Using this patch, in the case of an error, it will execute macvlan_flush_sources() to ensure that the resource is cleaned up.

Published: 2025-05-01 Last update: 2025-10-01 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49853 is rated Low Risk (24.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). 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-2022-49853

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 2026-06-15 0.04% 0.18% +0.14%
2 2026-06-09 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2026-02-25 0.05%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49853

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]
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 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-49853

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49853

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49853 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-2022-49853
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49853
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49853/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49853 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, released 154, ignored 146, not-affected 105, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49853

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49853

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.9, < 4.9.334 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 4.14.300 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.267 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.225 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.155 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.79 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.9 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:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49853

cvelogic Threat Intelligence