CVE-2022-49148: watch_queue: Free the page array when watch_queue is dismantled

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-02-26 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-401

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: watch_queue: Free the page array when watch_queue is dismantled Commit 7ea1a0124b6d ("watch_queue: Free the alloc bitmap when the watch_queue is torn down") took care of the bitmap, but not the page array. BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810d9bc140 (size 32): comm "syz-executor335", pid 3603, jiffies 4294946994 (age 12.840s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 40 a7 40 04 00 ea ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 @.@............. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: kmalloc_array include/linux/slab.h:621 [inline] kcalloc include/linux/slab.h:652 [inline] watch_queue_set_size+0x12f/0x2e0 kernel/watch_queue.c:251 pipe_ioctl+0x82/0x140 fs/pipe.c:632 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:874 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:860 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x140 fs/ioctl.c:860 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.8 before 5.10.110; from 5.11 before 5.15.33; from 5.16 before 5.16.19; from 5.17 before 5.17.2 — fixed in 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19, 5.17.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19, 5.17.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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