CVE-2022-49872 | net: gso: fix panic on frag_list with mixed head alloc types

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: gso: fix panic on frag_list with mixed head alloc types Since commit 3dcbdb134f32 ("net: gso: Fix skb_segment splat when splitting gso_size mangled skb having linear-headed frag_list"), it is allowed to change gso_size of a GRO packet. However, that commit assumes that "checking the first list_skb member suffices; i.e if either of the list_skb members have non head_frag head, then the first one has too". It turns out this assumption does not hold. We've seen BUG_ON being hit in skb_segment when skbs on the frag_list had differing head_frag with the vmxnet3 driver. This happens because __netdev_alloc_skb and __napi_alloc_skb can return a skb that is page backed or kmalloced depending on the requested size. As the result, the last small skb in the GRO packet can be kmalloced. There are three different locations where this can be fixed: (1) We could check head_frag in GRO and not allow GROing skbs with different head_frag. However, that would lead to performance regression on normal forward paths with unmodified gso_size, where !head_frag in the last packet is not a problem. (2) Set a flag in bpf_skb_net_grow and bpf_skb_net_shrink indicating that NETIF_F_SG is undesirable. That would need to eat a bit in sk_buff. Furthermore, that flag can be unset when all skbs on the frag_list are page backed. To retain good performance, bpf_skb_net_grow/shrink would have to walk the frag_list. (3) Walk the frag_list in skb_segment when determining whether NETIF_F_SG should be cleared. This of course slows things down. This patch implements (3). To limit the performance impact in skb_segment, the list is walked only for skbs with SKB_GSO_DODGY set that have gso_size changed. Normal paths thus will not hit it. We could check only the last skb but since we need to walk the whole list anyway, let's stay on the safe side.

Published: 2025-05-01 Last update: 2025-11-10 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49872 is rated Low Risk (28.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). 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-2022-49872

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 0.02% 0.06% +0.04%
2 2025-05-02 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49872

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-2022-49872

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49872

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49872 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-2022-49872
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49872
suse medium CVE-2022-49872 severity moderate: SUSE including 313 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, …), 439 product×package rows across 40 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-HPC-BYOS, … (40 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 117, Known Not Affected 91. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49872/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49872 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-2022-49872

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49872

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.9.194, < 4.9.334 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.14.145, < 4.14.300 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.19.74, < 4.19.267 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.2.16, < 5.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.3.1, < 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 5.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.3:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
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-2022-49872

cvelogic Threat Intelligence