CVE-2022-50240 | android: binder: stop saving a pointer to the VMA

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: android: binder: stop saving a pointer to the VMA Do not record a pointer to a VMA outside of the mmap_lock for later use. This is unsafe and there are a number of failure paths *after* the recorded VMA pointer may be freed during setup. There is no callback to the driver to clear the saved pointer from generic mm code. Furthermore, the VMA pointer may become stale if any number of VMA operations end up freeing the VMA so saving it was fragile to being with. Instead, change the binder_alloc struct to record the start address of the VMA and use vma_lookup() to get the vma when needed. Add lockdep mmap_lock checks on updates to the vma pointer to ensure the lock is held and depend on that lock for synchronization of readers and writers - which was already the case anyways, so the smp_wmb()/smp_rmb() was not necessary. [[email protected]: fix drivers/android/binder_alloc_selftest.c]

Published: 2025-09-15 Last update: 2025-11-24 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50240 is rated Low Risk (32.3/100): CVSS High 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-2022-50240

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 2025-09-16 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50240

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-50240

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50240

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50240 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-2022-50240
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50240
suse medium CVE-2022-50240 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 276 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (54 product lines)): Known Not Affected 276. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50240/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50240 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, needed 197, ignored 176, not-affected 24. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50240

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50240

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.224 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.154 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50240

cvelogic Threat Intelligence