CVE-2022-50396 | net: sched: fix memory leak in tcindex_set_parms

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: sched: fix memory leak in tcindex_set_parms Syzkaller reports a memory leak as follows: ==================================== BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810c287f00 (size 256): comm "syz-executor105", pid 3600, jiffies 4294943292 (age 12.990s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<ffffffff814cf9f0>] kmalloc_trace+0x20/0x90 mm/slab_common.c:1046 [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:576 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kmalloc_array include/linux/slab.h:627 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] kcalloc include/linux/slab.h:659 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] tcf_exts_init include/net/pkt_cls.h:250 [inline] [<ffffffff839c9e07>] tcindex_set_parms+0xa7/0xbe0 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:342 [<ffffffff839caa1f>] tcindex_change+0xdf/0x120 net/sched/cls_tcindex.c:553 [<ffffffff8394db62>] tc_new_tfilter+0x4f2/0x1100 net/sched/cls_api.c:2147 [<ffffffff8389e91c>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x4dc/0x5d0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6082 [<ffffffff839eba67>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x87/0x1d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2540 [<ffffffff839eab87>] netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] [<ffffffff839eab87>] netlink_unicast+0x397/0x4c0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 [<ffffffff839eb046>] netlink_sendmsg+0x396/0x710 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 [<ffffffff8383e796>] sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] [<ffffffff8383e796>] sock_sendmsg+0x56/0x80 net/socket.c:734 [<ffffffff8383eb08>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x178/0x410 net/socket.c:2482 [<ffffffff83843678>] ___sys_sendmsg+0xa8/0x110 net/socket.c:2536 [<ffffffff838439c5>] __sys_sendmmsg+0x105/0x330 net/socket.c:2622 [<ffffffff83843c14>] __do_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2651 [inline] [<ffffffff83843c14>] __se_sys_sendmmsg net/socket.c:2648 [inline] [<ffffffff83843c14>] __x64_sys_sendmmsg+0x24/0x30 net/socket.c:2648 [<ffffffff84605fd5>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff84605fd5>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff84800087>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd ==================================== Kernel uses tcindex_change() to change an existing filter properties. Yet the problem is that, during the process of changing, if `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, then kernel uses tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly allocate filter results, uses tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, without destroying its tcf_exts structure, which triggers the above memory leak. To be more specific, there are only two source for the `old_r`, according to the tcindex_lookup(). `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, or `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`. * If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect`, kernel uses tcindex_alloc_perfect_hash() to newly allocate the filter results. Then `r` is assigned with `cp->perfect + handle`, which is newly allocated. So condition `old_r && old_r != r` is true in this situation, and kernel uses tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, without destroying its tcf_exts structure * If `old_r` is retrieved from `p->h`, then `p->perfect` is NULL according to the tcindex_lookup(). Considering that `cp->h` is directly copied from `p->h` and `p->perfect` is NULL, `r` is assigned with `tcindex_lookup(cp, handle)`, whose value should be the same as `old_r`, so condition `old_r && old_r != r` is false in this situation, kernel ignores using tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result. So only when `old_r` is retrieved from `p->perfect` does kernel use tcindex_filter_result_init() to clear the old filter result, which triggers the above memory leak. Considering that there already exists a tc_filter_wq workqueue to destroy the old tcindex_d ---truncated---

Published: 2025-09-18 Last update: 2026-01-14 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50396 is rated Low Risk (24/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). 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-2022-50396

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 0.02% 0.16% +0.14%
2 2025-09-19 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50396

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]
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 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-50396

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50396

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50396 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-2022-50396
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50396
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50396/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50396 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 159, released 134, not-affected 88, needed 15, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50396

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50396

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.9, < 4.14.308 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.276 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.235 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.173 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.100 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, < 6.1.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.2.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50396

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01d0d2b8b4e3cf2110baba9371c0c3d04ad5c77b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18c3fa7a7fdbb4d21dafc8a7710ae2c1680930f6 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/372ae77cf11d11fb118cbe2d37def9dd5f826abd Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/399ab7fe0fa0d846881685fd4e57e9a8ef7559f7 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3abebc503a5148072052c229c6b04b329a420ecd Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/53af9c793f644d5841d84d8e0ad83bd7ab47f3e0 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55ac68b53f1cea1926ee2313afc5d66b91daad71 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6c55953e232ea668731091d111066521f3b7719b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a6fb69bbcb21e9ce13bdf18c008c268874f0480 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7c183dc0af472dec33d2c0786a5e356baa8cad19 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b314f6c3512108d7a656c5caf07c82d1bbbdc0f1 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4de6057e7c6654983acb63d939d26ac0d7bbf39 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/facc4405e8b7407e03216207b1d1d640127de0c8 Patch
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