In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usbnet: Fix linkwatch use-after-free on disconnect usbnet uses the work usbnet_deferred_kevent() to perform tasks which may sleep. On disconnect, completion of the work was originally awaited in ->ndo_stop(). But in 2003, that was moved to ->disconnect() by historic commit "[PATCH] USB: usbnet, prevent exotic rtnl deadlock": https://git.kernel.org/tglx/history/c/0f138bbfd83c The change was made because back then, the kernel's workqueue implementation did not allow waiting for a single work. One had to wait for completion of *all* work by calling flush_scheduled_work(), and that could deadlock when waiting for usbnet_deferred_kevent() with rtnl_mutex held in ->ndo_stop(). The commit solved one problem but created another: It causes a use-after-free in USB Ethernet drivers aqc111.c, asix_devices.c, ax88179_178a.c, ch9200.c and smsc75xx.c: * If the drivers receive a link change interrupt immediately before disconnect, they raise EVENT_LINK_RESET in their (non-sleepable) ->status() callback and schedule usbnet_deferred_kevent(). * usbnet_deferred_kevent() invokes the driver's ->link_reset() callback, which calls netif_carrier_{on,off}(). * That in turn schedules the work linkwatch_event(). Because usbnet_deferred_kevent() is awaited after unregister_netdev(), netif_carrier_{on,off}() may operate on an unregistered netdev and linkwatch_event() may run after free_netdev(), causing a use-after-free. In 2010, usbnet was changed to only wait for a single instance of usbnet_deferred_kevent() instead of *all* work by commit 23f333a2bfaf ("drivers/net: don't use flush_scheduled_work()"). Unfortunately the commit neglected to move the wait back to ->ndo_stop(). Rectify that omission at long last.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50220 is rated Low Risk (34.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). 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.
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 | 0.06% | 0.20% | +0.14% |
| 2 | 2026-04-14 | 0.01% | 0.06% | +0.05% |
| 3 | 2025-11-20 | — | 0.01% | — |
Full EPSS history (7 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2022-50220 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-2022-50220 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50220 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50220/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2022-50220 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, released 151, ignored 150, not-affected 99, needed 5, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50220 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 2.6.38, < 4.9.326 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.10, < 4.14.291 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.15, < 4.19.256 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 4.20, < 5.4.211 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.5, < 5.10.137 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.11, < 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |