CVE-2022-49947 | binder: fix alloc->vma_vm_mm null-ptr dereference

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix alloc->vma_vm_mm null-ptr dereference Syzbot reported a couple issues introduced by commit 44e602b4e52f ("binder_alloc: add missing mmap_lock calls when using the VMA"), in which we attempt to acquire the mmap_lock when alloc->vma_vm_mm has not been initialized yet. This can happen if a binder_proc receives a transaction without having previously called mmap() to setup the binder_proc->alloc space in [1]. Also, a similar issue occurs via binder_alloc_print_pages() when we try to dump the debugfs binder stats file in [2]. Sample of syzbot's crash report: ================================================================== KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000128-0x000000000000012f] CPU: 0 PID: 3755 Comm: syz-executor229 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc1-next-20220819-syzkaller #0 syz-executor229[3755] cmdline: ./syz-executor2294415195 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/22/2022 RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0xd83/0x56d0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4923 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> lock_acquire kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5666 [inline] lock_acquire+0x1ab/0x570 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5631 down_read+0x98/0x450 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1499 mmap_read_lock include/linux/mmap_lock.h:117 [inline] binder_alloc_new_buf_locked drivers/android/binder_alloc.c:405 [inline] binder_alloc_new_buf+0xa5/0x19e0 drivers/android/binder_alloc.c:593 binder_transaction+0x242e/0x9a80 drivers/android/binder.c:3199 binder_thread_write+0x664/0x3220 drivers/android/binder.c:3986 binder_ioctl_write_read drivers/android/binder.c:5036 [inline] binder_ioctl+0x3470/0x6d00 drivers/android/binder.c:5323 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x193/0x200 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [...] ================================================================== Fix these issues by setting up alloc->vma_vm_mm pointer during open() and caching directly from current->mm. This guarantees we have a valid reference to take the mmap_lock during scenarios described above. [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=f7dc54e5be28950ac459 [2] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=a75ebe0452711c9e56d9

Published: 2025-06-18 Last update: 2025-11-14 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49947 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-2022-49947

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 2025-06-18 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49947

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-2022-49947

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49947

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-49947 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-2022-49947
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49947
suse medium CVE-2022-49947 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 266 product×package rows across 52 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (52 product lines)): Known Not Affected 266. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49947/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49947 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 147, not-affected 145, released 113, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49947

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49947

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.64, < 5.15.66 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.19.6, < 5.19.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49947

cvelogic Threat Intelligence