CVE-2022-49908 | Bluetooth: L2CAP: Fix memory leak in vhci_write

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: L2CAP: Fix memory leak in vhci_write Syzkaller reports a memory leak as follows: ==================================== BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810d81ac00 (size 240): [...] hex dump (first 32 bytes): 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 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<ffffffff838733d9>] __alloc_skb+0x1f9/0x270 net/core/skbuff.c:418 [<ffffffff833f742f>] alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1257 [inline] [<ffffffff833f742f>] bt_skb_alloc include/net/bluetooth/bluetooth.h:469 [inline] [<ffffffff833f742f>] vhci_get_user drivers/bluetooth/hci_vhci.c:391 [inline] [<ffffffff833f742f>] vhci_write+0x5f/0x230 drivers/bluetooth/hci_vhci.c:511 [<ffffffff815e398d>] call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2192 [inline] [<ffffffff815e398d>] new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline] [<ffffffff815e398d>] vfs_write+0x42d/0x540 fs/read_write.c:578 [<ffffffff815e3cdd>] ksys_write+0x9d/0x160 fs/read_write.c:631 [<ffffffff845e0645>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff845e0645>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff84600087>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd ==================================== HCI core will uses hci_rx_work() to process frame, which is queued to the hdev->rx_q tail in hci_recv_frame() by HCI driver. Yet the problem is that, HCI core may not free the skb after handling ACL data packets. To be more specific, when start fragment does not contain the L2CAP length, HCI core just copies skb into conn->rx_skb and finishes frame process in l2cap_recv_acldata(), without freeing the skb, which triggers the above memory leak. This patch solves it by releasing the relative skb, after processing the above case in l2cap_recv_acldata().

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49908 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-2022-49908

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-2022-49908

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-2022-49908

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49908

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-49908 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-2022-49908
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49908
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49908/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49908 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 145, released 114, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49908

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49908

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.12, < 5.15.78 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.8 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:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49908

cvelogic Threat Intelligence