CVE-2022-49443: list: fix a data-race around ep->rdllist

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-49443 is a medium (CVSS 4.7) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 7.7% 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: list: fix a data-race around ep->rdllist ep_poll() first calls ep_events_available() with no lock held and checks if ep->rdllist is empty by list_empty_careful(), which reads rdllist->prev. Thus all accesses to it need some protection to avoid store/load-tearing. Note INIT_LIST_HEAD_RCU() already has the annotation for both prev and next. Commit bf3b9f6372c4 ("epoll: Add busy poll support to epoll with socket fds.") added the first lockless ep_events_available(), and commit c5a282e9635e ("fs/epoll: reduce the scope of wq lock in epoll_wait()") made some ep_events_available() calls lockless and added single call under a lock, finally commit e59d3c64cba6 ("epoll: eliminate unnecessary lock for zero timeout") made the last ep_events_available() lockless. BUG: KCSAN: data-race in do_epoll_wait / do_epoll_wait write to 0xffff88810480c7d8 of 8 bytes by task 1802 on cpu 0: INIT_LIST_HEAD include/linux/list.h:38 [inline] list_splice_init include/linux/list.h:492 [inline] ep_start_scan fs/eventpoll.c:622 [inline] ep_send_events fs/eventpoll.c:1656 [inline] ep_poll fs/eventpoll.c:1806 [inline] do_epoll_wait+0x4eb/0xf40 fs/eventpoll.c:2234 do_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2268 [inline] __do_sys_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2281 [inline] __se_sys_epoll_pwait+0x12b/0x240 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 __x64_sys_epoll_pwait+0x74/0x80 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x44/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae read to 0xffff88810480c7d8 of 8 bytes by task 1799 on cpu 1: list_empty_careful include/linux/list.h:329 [inline] ep_events_available fs/eventpoll.c:381 [inline] ep_poll fs/eventpoll.c:1797 [inline] do_epoll_wait+0x279/0xf40 fs/eventpoll.c:2234 do_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2268 [inline] __do_sys_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2281 [inline] __se_sys_epoll_pwait+0x12b/0x240 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 __x64_sys_epoll_pwait+0x74/0x80 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x44/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae value changed: 0xffff88810480c7d0 -> 0xffff888103c15098 Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: CPU: 1 PID: 1799 Comm: syz-fuzzer Tainted: G W 5.17.0-rc7-syzkaller-dirty #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011

• CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper SynchronizationThe product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.