CVE-2022-49979 | net: fix refcount bug in sk_psock_get (2)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: fix refcount bug in sk_psock_get (2) Syzkaller reports refcount bug as follows: ------------[ cut here ]------------ refcount_t: saturated; leaking memory. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 3605 at lib/refcount.c:19 refcount_warn_saturate+0xf4/0x1e0 lib/refcount.c:19 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 3605 Comm: syz-executor208 Not tainted 5.18.0-syzkaller-03023-g7e062cda7d90 #0 <TASK> __refcount_add_not_zero include/linux/refcount.h:163 [inline] __refcount_inc_not_zero include/linux/refcount.h:227 [inline] refcount_inc_not_zero include/linux/refcount.h:245 [inline] sk_psock_get+0x3bc/0x410 include/linux/skmsg.h:439 tls_data_ready+0x6d/0x1b0 net/tls/tls_sw.c:2091 tcp_data_ready+0x106/0x520 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:4983 tcp_data_queue+0x25f2/0x4c90 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:5057 tcp_rcv_state_process+0x1774/0x4e80 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:6659 tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x339/0x980 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:1682 sk_backlog_rcv include/net/sock.h:1061 [inline] __release_sock+0x134/0x3b0 net/core/sock.c:2849 release_sock+0x54/0x1b0 net/core/sock.c:3404 inet_shutdown+0x1e0/0x430 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:909 __sys_shutdown_sock net/socket.c:2331 [inline] __sys_shutdown_sock net/socket.c:2325 [inline] __sys_shutdown+0xf1/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2343 __do_sys_shutdown net/socket.c:2351 [inline] __se_sys_shutdown net/socket.c:2349 [inline] __x64_sys_shutdown+0x50/0x70 net/socket.c:2349 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+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> During SMC fallback process in connect syscall, kernel will replaces TCP with SMC. In order to forward wakeup smc socket waitqueue after fallback, kernel will sets clcsk->sk_user_data to origin smc socket in smc_fback_replace_callbacks(). Later, in shutdown syscall, kernel will calls sk_psock_get(), which treats the clcsk->sk_user_data as psock type, triggering the refcnt warning. So, the root cause is that smc and psock, both will use sk_user_data field. So they will mismatch this field easily. This patch solves it by using another bit(defined as SK_USER_DATA_PSOCK) in PTRMASK, to mark whether sk_user_data points to a psock object or not. This patch depends on a PTRMASK introduced in commit f1ff5ce2cd5e ("net, sk_msg: Clear sk_user_data pointer on clone if tagged"). For there will possibly be more flags in the sk_user_data field, this patch also refactor sk_user_data flags code to be more generic to improve its maintainability.

Published: 2025-06-18 Last update: 2025-12-23 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49979 is rated Low Risk (23/100): 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-2022-49979

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-2022-49979

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-2022-49979

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49979

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-49979 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-2022-49979
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49979
suse low CVE-2022-49979 severity low: SUSE including 53 source package names (bpftool-7.0.0-284.11.1.el9_2, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 208 product×package rows across 38 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 9, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP3, … (38 product lines)): Known Not Affected 181, Fixed 27. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49979/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49979 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 151, released 114, not-affected 98, needed 42, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49979

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49979

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 5.10.141 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.65 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 5.19.7 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49979

cvelogic Threat Intelligence