high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2022-49419·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: video: fbdev: vesafb: Fix a use-after-free due early fb_info cleanup Commit b3c9a924aab6 ("fbdev: vesafb: Cleanup fb_info in .fb_destroy rather than .remove") fixed a use-after-free error due the vesafb driver freeing the fb_info in the .remove handler instead of doing it in .fb_destroy. This can happen if the .fb_destroy callback is executed after the .remove callback, since the former tries to access a pointer freed by the latter. But that change didn't take into account that another possible scenario is that .fb_destroy is called before the .remove callback. For example, if no process has the fbdev chardev opened by the time the driver is removed. If that's the case, fb_info will be freed when unregister_framebuffer() is called, making the fb_info pointer accessed in vesafb_remove() after that to no longer be valid. To prevent that, move the expression containing the info->par to happen before the unregister_framebuffer() function call.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
5.18.3
Published
2025-02-26

Affected versions

From: 5.18

Until: 5.18.3

Fixed in: 5.18.3

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 5.18.3 or later to resolve a use-after-free vulnerability in the vesafb framebuffer driver. This flaw occurs when the kernel attempts to access memory that has already been freed during driver removal, potentially leading to kernel crashes or privilege escalation. Prioritize this update for systems running kernel versions 5.18 through 5.18.2 that depend on VESA framebuffer support.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your kernel version: uname -r — verify if it falls between 5.18 and 5.18.2
  2. Confirm vesafb driver is active: grep -i vesafb /proc/cmdline or lsmod | grep vesafb
  3. Review kernel logs for crashes: dmesg | grep -i 'use-after-free\|segfault\|general protection' during driver load/unload cycles
  4. Verify patch application: grep -i 'move the expression containing the info->par' /boot/config-$(uname -r) or compare kernel build timestamp against the patch commit date (5.18.3 release)

FAQ

What is CVE-2022-49419?

CVE-2022-49419 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux VESA framebuffer (vesafb) driver where the kernel attempts to dereference a freed memory pointer during driver removal, occurring when the framebuffer is unregistered before the driver's cleanup routine completes.

Is CVE-2022-49419 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog and has no known public exploits, though it could potentially be weaponized by local authenticated attackers with driver unload privileges.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2022-49419?

Linux kernel versions 5.18, 5.18.1, and 5.18.2 are vulnerable; the fix is included in kernel 5.18.3 and later.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2022-49419?

Run `uname -r` and verify the version is between 5.18 and 5.18.2, then confirm vesafb is in use with `grep vesafb /proc/cmdline` or `lsmod | grep vesafb`.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2022-49419?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If the Linux kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2022-49419 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.
CVE-2024-36031CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix overwrite of key expiration on instantiation The expiry time of a key is unconditionally overwritten during instantiation, defaulting to turn it permanent. This causes a problem for DNS resolution as the expiration set by user-space is overwritten to TIME64_MAX, disabling further DNS updates. Fix this by restoring the condition that key_set_expiry is only called when the pre-parser sets a specific expiry.
CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.
CVE-2024-38623CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Use variable length array instead of fixed size Should fix smatch warning: ntfs_set_label() error: __builtin_memcpy() 'uni->name' too small (20 vs 256)
CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

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