CVE-2022-50288 | qlcnic: prevent ->dcb use-after-free on qlcnic_dcb_enable() failure

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: qlcnic: prevent ->dcb use-after-free on qlcnic_dcb_enable() failure adapter->dcb would get silently freed inside qlcnic_dcb_enable() in case qlcnic_dcb_attach() would return an error, which always happens under OOM conditions. This would lead to use-after-free because both of the existing callers invoke qlcnic_dcb_get_info() on the obtained pointer, which is potentially freed at that point. Propagate errors from qlcnic_dcb_enable(), and instead free the dcb pointer at callsite using qlcnic_dcb_free(). This also removes the now unused qlcnic_clear_dcb_ops() helper, which was a simple wrapper around kfree() also causing memory leaks for partially initialized dcb. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with the SVACE static analysis tool.

Published: 2025-09-15 Last update: 2025-12-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50288 is rated Low Risk (23.8/100): 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-2022-50288

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-2022-50288

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-2022-50288

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50288

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50288 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-2022-50288
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50288
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50288/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50288 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, ignored 160, released 150, not-affected 82, needed 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50288

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50288

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.14, < 4.14.303 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.270 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.229 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.163 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.87 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50288

cvelogic Threat Intelligence