CVE-2022-49379: driver core: Fix wait_for_device_probe() & deferred_probe_timeout interaction

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% 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-667

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: driver core: Fix wait_for_device_probe() & deferred_probe_timeout interaction Mounting NFS rootfs was timing out when deferred_probe_timeout was non-zero [1]. This was because ip_auto_config() initcall times out waiting for the network interfaces to show up when deferred_probe_timeout was non-zero. While ip_auto_config() calls wait_for_device_probe() to make sure any currently running deferred probe work or asynchronous probe finishes, that wasn't sufficient to account for devices being deferred until deferred_probe_timeout. Commit 35a672363ab3 ("driver core: Ensure wait_for_device_probe() waits until the deferred_probe_timeout fires") tried to fix that by making sure wait_for_device_probe() waits for deferred_probe_timeout to expire before returning. However, if wait_for_device_probe() is called from the kernel_init() context: - Before deferred_probe_initcall() [2], it causes the boot process to hang due to a deadlock. - After deferred_probe_initcall() [3], it blocks kernel_init() from continuing till deferred_probe_timeout expires and beats the point of deferred_probe_timeout that's trying to wait for userspace to load modules. Neither of this is good. So revert the changes to wait_for_device_probe(). [1] - https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/TYAPR01MB45443DF63B9EF29054F7C41FD8C60@TYAPR01MB4544.jpnprd01.prod.outlook.com/ [2] - https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YowHNo4sBjr9ijZr@dev-arch.thelio-3990X/ [3] - https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/Yo3WvGnNk3LvLb7R@linutronix.de/

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.7.1 before 5.10.122; from 5.11 before 5.15.47; from 5.16 before 5.17.15; from 5.18 before 5.18.4; 5.7, 5.7-rc5, 5.7-rc6, 5.7-rc7 — fixed in 5.10.122, 5.15.47, 5.17.15, 5.18.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.122, 5.15.47, 5.17.15, 5.18.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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