CVE-2022-50214

HIGH
Published Jun 18, 2025 Modified Nov 19, 2025 CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: coresight: Clear the connection field properly coresight devices track their connections (output connections) and hold a reference to the fwnode. When a device goes away, we walk through the devices on the coresight bus and make sure that the references are dropped. This happens both ways: a) For all output connections from the device, drop the reference to the target device via coresight_release_platform_data() b) Iterate over all the devices on the coresight bus and drop the reference to fwnode if *this* device is the target of the output connection, via coresight_remove_conns()->coresight_remove_match(). However, the coresight_remove_match() doesn't clear the fwnode field, after dropping the reference, this causes use-after-free and additional refcount drops on the fwnode. e.g., if we have two devices, A and B, with a connection, A -> B. If we remove B first, B would clear the reference on B, from A via coresight_remove_match(). But when A is removed, it still has a connection with fwnode still pointing to B. Thus it tries to drops the reference in coresight_release_platform_data(), raising the bells like : [ 91.990153] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 91.990163] refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. [ 91.990212] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 461 at lib/refcount.c:25 refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990260] Modules linked in: coresight_funnel coresight_replicator coresight_etm4x(-) crct10dif_ce coresight ip_tables x_tables ipv6 [last unloaded: coresight_cpu_debug] [ 91.990398] CPU: 0 PID: 461 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G W T 5.19.0-rc2+ #53 [ 91.990418] Hardware name: ARM LTD ARM Juno Development Platform/ARM Juno Development Platform, BIOS EDK II Feb 1 2019 [ 91.990434] pstate: 600000c5 (nZCv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 91.990454] pc : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990476] lr : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990496] sp : ffff80000c843640 [ 91.990509] x29: ffff80000c843640 x28: ffff800009957c28 x27: ffff80000c8439a8 [ 91.990560] x26: ffff00097eff1990 x25: ffff8000092b6ad8 x24: ffff00097eff19a8 [ 91.990610] x23: ffff80000c8439a8 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffff80000c8439c2 [ 91.990659] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff00097eff1a10 x18: ffff80000ab99c40 [ 91.990708] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffff80000abf6fa0 [ 91.990756] x14: 000000000000001d x13: 0a2e656572662d72 x12: 657466612d657375 [ 91.990805] x11: 203b30206e6f206e x10: 6f69746964646120 x9 : ffff8000081aba28 [ 91.990854] x8 : 206e6f206e6f6974 x7 : 69646461203a745f x6 : 746e756f63666572 [ 91.990903] x5 : ffff00097648ec58 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000027 [ 91.990952] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff00080260ba00 [ 91.991000] Call trace: [ 91.991012] refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.991034] kobject_get+0xac/0xb0 [ 91.991055] of_node_get+0x2c/0x40 [ 91.991076] of_fwnode_get+0x40/0x60 [ 91.991094] fwnode_handle_get+0x3c/0x60 [ 91.991116] fwnode_get_nth_parent+0xf4/0x110 [ 91.991137] fwnode_full_name_string+0x48/0xc0 [ 91.991158] device_node_string+0x41c/0x530 [ 91.991178] pointer+0x320/0x3ec [ 91.991198] vsnprintf+0x23c/0x750 [ 91.991217] vprintk_store+0x104/0x4b0 [ 91.991238] vprintk_emit+0x8c/0x360 [ 91.991257] vprintk_default+0x44/0x50 [ 91.991276] vprintk+0xcc/0xf0 [ 91.991295] _printk+0x68/0x90 [ 91.991315] of_node_release+0x13c/0x14c [ 91.991334] kobject_put+0x98/0x114 [ 91.991354] of_node_put+0x24/0x34 [ 91.991372] of_fwnode_put+0x40/0x5c [ 91.991390] fwnode_handle_put+0x38/0x50 [ 91.991411] coresight_release_platform_data+0x74/0xb0 [coresight] [ 91.991472] coresight_unregister+0x64/0xcc [coresight] [ 91.991525] etm4_remove_dev+0x64/0x78 [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991563] etm4_remove_amba+0x1c/0x2c [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991598] amba_remove+0x3c/0x19c ---truncated---

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CVSS v3.1 Score

7.8
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-416 Use After Free

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-50214? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: coresight: Clear the connection field properly coresight devices track their connections (output connections) and hold a reference to the fwnode. When a device goes away, we walk through the devices on the coresight bus and make sure that the references are dropped. This happens both ways: a) For all output connections from the device, drop the reference to the target device via coresight_release_platform_data() b) Iterate over all the devices on the coresight bus and drop the reference to fwnode if *this* device is the target of the output connection, via coresight_remove_conns()->coresight_remove_match(). However, the coresight_remove_match() doesn't clear the fwnode field, after dropping the reference, this causes use-after-free and additional refcount drops on the fwnode. e.g., if we have two devices, A and B, with a connection, A -> B. If we remove B first, B would clear the reference on B, from A via coresight_remove_match(). But when A is removed, it still has a connection with fwnode still pointing to B. Thus it tries to drops the reference in coresight_release_platform_data(), raising the bells like : [ 91.990153] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 91.990163] refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. [ 91.990212] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 461 at lib/refcount.c:25 refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990260] Modules linked in: coresight_funnel coresight_replicator coresight_etm4x(-) crct10dif_ce coresight ip_tables x_tables ipv6 [last unloaded: coresight_cpu_debug] [ 91.990398] CPU: 0 PID: 461 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G W T 5.19.0-rc2+ #53 [ 91.990418] Hardware name: ARM LTD ARM Juno Development Platform/ARM Juno Development Platform, BIOS EDK II Feb 1 2019 [ 91.990434] pstate: 600000c5 (nZCv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 91.990454] pc : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990476] lr : refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.990496] sp : ffff80000c843640 [ 91.990509] x29: ffff80000c843640 x28: ffff800009957c28 x27: ffff80000c8439a8 [ 91.990560] x26: ffff00097eff1990 x25: ffff8000092b6ad8 x24: ffff00097eff19a8 [ 91.990610] x23: ffff80000c8439a8 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffff80000c8439c2 [ 91.990659] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff00097eff1a10 x18: ffff80000ab99c40 [ 91.990708] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffff80000abf6fa0 [ 91.990756] x14: 000000000000001d x13: 0a2e656572662d72 x12: 657466612d657375 [ 91.990805] x11: 203b30206e6f206e x10: 6f69746964646120 x9 : ffff8000081aba28 [ 91.990854] x8 : 206e6f206e6f6974 x7 : 69646461203a745f x6 : 746e756f63666572 [ 91.990903] x5 : ffff00097648ec58 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000027 [ 91.990952] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff00080260ba00 [ 91.991000] Call trace: [ 91.991012] refcount_warn_saturate+0xa0/0x144 [ 91.991034] kobject_get+0xac/0xb0 [ 91.991055] of_node_get+0x2c/0x40 [ 91.991076] of_fwnode_get+0x40/0x60 [ 91.991094] fwnode_handle_get+0x3c/0x60 [ 91.991116] fwnode_get_nth_parent+0xf4/0x110 [ 91.991137] fwnode_full_name_string+0x48/0xc0 [ 91.991158] device_node_string+0x41c/0x530 [ 91.991178] pointer+0x320/0x3ec [ 91.991198] vsnprintf+0x23c/0x750 [ 91.991217] vprintk_store+0x104/0x4b0 [ 91.991238] vprintk_emit+0x8c/0x360 [ 91.991257] vprintk_default+0x44/0x50 [ 91.991276] vprintk+0xcc/0xf0 [ 91.991295] _printk+0x68/0x90 [ 91.991315] of_node_release+0x13c/0x14c [ 91.991334] kobject_put+0x98/0x114 [ 91.991354] of_node_put+0x24/0x34 [ 91.991372] of_fwnode_put+0x40/0x5c [ 91.991390] fwnode_handle_put+0x38/0x50 [ 91.991411] coresight_release_platform_data+0x74/0xb0 [coresight] [ 91.991472] coresight_unregister+0x64/0xcc [coresight] [ 91.991525] etm4_remove_dev+0x64/0x78 [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991563] etm4_remove_amba+0x1c/0x2c [coresight_etm4x] [ 91.991598] amba_remove+0x3c/0x19c ---truncated--- It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2022-50214? +
CVE-2022-50214 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching.
What products are affected by CVE-2022-50214? +
CVE-2022-50214 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2022-50214? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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