CVE-2022-50534 | dm thin: Use last transaction's pmd->root when commit failed

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm thin: Use last transaction's pmd->root when commit failed Recently we found a softlock up problem in dm thin pool btree lookup code due to corrupted metadata: Kernel panic - not syncing: softlockup: hung tasks CPU: 7 PID: 2669225 Comm: kworker/u16:3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) Workqueue: dm-thin do_worker [dm_thin_pool] Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack+0x9c/0xd3 panic+0x35d/0x6b9 watchdog_timer_fn.cold+0x16/0x25 __run_hrtimer+0xa2/0x2d0 </IRQ> RIP: 0010:__relink_lru+0x102/0x220 [dm_bufio] __bufio_new+0x11f/0x4f0 [dm_bufio] new_read+0xa3/0x1e0 [dm_bufio] dm_bm_read_lock+0x33/0xd0 [dm_persistent_data] ro_step+0x63/0x100 [dm_persistent_data] btree_lookup_raw.constprop.0+0x44/0x220 [dm_persistent_data] dm_btree_lookup+0x16f/0x210 [dm_persistent_data] dm_thin_find_block+0x12c/0x210 [dm_thin_pool] __process_bio_read_only+0xc5/0x400 [dm_thin_pool] process_thin_deferred_bios+0x1a4/0x4a0 [dm_thin_pool] process_one_work+0x3c5/0x730 Following process may generate a broken btree mixed with fresh and stale btree nodes, which could get dm thin trapped in an infinite loop while looking up data block: Transaction 1: pmd->root = A, A->B->C // One path in btree pmd->root = X, X->Y->Z // Copy-up Transaction 2: X,Z is updated on disk, Y write failed. // Commit failed, dm thin becomes read-only. process_bio_read_only dm_thin_find_block __find_block dm_btree_lookup(pmd->root) The pmd->root points to a broken btree, Y may contain stale node pointing to any block, for example X, which gets dm thin trapped into a dead loop while looking up Z. Fix this by setting pmd->root in __open_metadata(), so that dm thin will use the last transaction's pmd->root if commit failed. Fetch a reproducer in [Link]. Linke: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216790

Published: 2025-10-07 Last update: 2026-03-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50534 is rated Low Risk (25/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 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-2022-50534

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 2025-10-08 0.03%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50534

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-2022-50534

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50534

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50534 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-2022-50534
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50534
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50534/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50534 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 161, released 150, not-affected 81, needed 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50534

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50534

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.2, < 4.9.337 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 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, < 6.0.18 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-2022-50534

cvelogic Threat Intelligence