CVE-2022-50473 | cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add() In cpufreq_policy_alloc(), it will call uninitialed completion in cpufreq_sysfs_release() when kobject_init_and_add() fails. And that will cause a crash such as the following page fault in complete: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffffffffffff8 [..] RIP: 0010:complete+0x98/0x1f0 [..] Call Trace: kobject_put+0x1be/0x4c0 cpufreq_online.cold+0xee/0x1fd cpufreq_add_dev+0x183/0x1e0 subsys_interface_register+0x3f5/0x4e0 cpufreq_register_driver+0x3b7/0x670 acpi_cpufreq_init+0x56c/0x1000 [acpi_cpufreq] do_one_initcall+0x13d/0x780 do_init_module+0x1c3/0x630 load_module+0x6e67/0x73b0 __do_sys_finit_module+0x181/0x240 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Published: 2025-10-04 Last update: 2026-01-23 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-50473 is rated Low Risk (23.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2022-50473

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 2025-10-05 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50473

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-2022-50473

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50473

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50473 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-2022-50473
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50473
suse medium CVE-2022-50473 severity moderate: SUSE including 75 source package names (bpftool-4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, bpftool-7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3, …), 241 product×package rows across 38 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 9, … (38 product lines)): Known Not Affected 191, Fixed 50. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50473/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50473 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 158, released 134, not-affected 104, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50473

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50473

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.1.6, < 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, < 6.0.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50473

cvelogic Threat Intelligence