CVE-2022-50042 | net: genl: fix error path memory leak in policy dumping

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: genl: fix error path memory leak in policy dumping If construction of the array of policies fails when recording non-first policy we need to unwind. netlink_policy_dump_add_policy() itself also needs fixing as it currently gives up on error without recording the allocated pointer in the pstate pointer.

Published: 2025-06-18 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-50042 is rated Low Risk (25.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). 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-2022-50042

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 0.07% 0.21% +0.14%
2 2026-04-14 0.02% 0.07% +0.05%
3 2025-06-18 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50042

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-2022-50042

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50042

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50042 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-2022-50042
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50042
suse medium CVE-2022-50042 severity moderate: SUSE including 75 source package names (bpftool-4.18.0-348.el8, bpftool-7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3, …), 268 product×package rows across 44 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Liberty Linux 8, … (44 product lines)): Known Not Affected 219, Fixed 49. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50042/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50042 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 144, released 114, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50042

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50042

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10, < 5.10.138 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.63 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 5.19.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50042

cvelogic Threat Intelligence