CVE-2022-50159 | of: check previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer against memory bounds

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of: check previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer against memory bounds Presently ima_get_kexec_buffer() doesn't check if the previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer lies outside the addressable memory range. This can result in a kernel panic if the new kernel is booted with 'mem=X' arg and the ima-kexec-buffer was allocated beyond that range by the previous kernel. The panic is usually of the form below: $ sudo kexec --initrd initrd vmlinux --append='mem=16G' <snip> BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on read at 0xc000c01fff7f0000 Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000000837974 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] <snip> NIP [c000000000837974] ima_restore_measurement_list+0x94/0x6c0 LR [c00000000083b55c] ima_load_kexec_buffer+0xac/0x160 Call Trace: [c00000000371fa80] [c00000000083b55c] ima_load_kexec_buffer+0xac/0x160 [c00000000371fb00] [c0000000020512c4] ima_init+0x80/0x108 [c00000000371fb70] [c0000000020514dc] init_ima+0x4c/0x120 [c00000000371fbf0] [c000000000012240] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x2c0 [c00000000371fcc0] [c000000002004ad0] kernel_init_freeable+0x344/0x3ec [c00000000371fda0] [c0000000000128a4] kernel_init+0x34/0x1b0 [c00000000371fe10] [c00000000000ce64] ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64 Instruction dump: f92100b8 f92100c0 90e10090 910100a0 4182050c 282a0017 3bc00000 40810330 7c0802a6 fb610198 7c9b2378 f80101d0 <a1240000> 2c090001 40820614 e9240010 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Fix this issue by checking returned PFN range of previous kernel's ima-kexec-buffer with page_is_ram() to ensure correct memory bounds.

Published: 2025-06-18 Last update: 2025-11-25 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50159 is rated Low Risk (29.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). 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-2022-50159

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 2026-04-14 0.02% 0.07% +0.05%
2 2025-06-18 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50159

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-2022-50159

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50159

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50159 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-50159
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50159
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50159/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50159 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 148, released 114, not-affected 106, needed 37, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50159

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50159

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 5.15.61 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 5.18.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.19, < 5.19.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50159

cvelogic Threat Intelligence