CVE-2022-49223: cxl/port: Hold port reference until decoder release

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-49223 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 18.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 26-02-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cxl/port: Hold port reference until decoder release KASAN + DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE reports a potential use-after-free in cxl_decoder_release() where it goes to reference its parent, a cxl_port, to free its id back to port->decoder_ida. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in to_cxl_port+0x18/0x90 [cxl_core] Read of size 8 at addr ffff888119270908 by task kworker/35:2/379 CPU: 35 PID: 379 Comm: kworker/35:2 Tainted: G OE 5.17.0-rc2+ #198 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 Workqueue: events kobject_delayed_cleanup Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x59/0x73 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x1f/0x150 ? to_cxl_port+0x18/0x90 [cxl_core] kasan_report.cold+0x83/0xdf ? to_cxl_port+0x18/0x90 [cxl_core] to_cxl_port+0x18/0x90 [cxl_core] cxl_decoder_release+0x2a/0x60 [cxl_core] device_release+0x5f/0x100 kobject_cleanup+0x80/0x1c0 The device core only guarantees parent lifetime until all children are unregistered. If a child needs a parent to complete its ->release() callback that child needs to hold a reference to extend the lifetime of the parent.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.