CVE-2022-50473: cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add()

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: 2025-10-04 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-908

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cpufreq: Init completion before kobject_init_and_add() In cpufreq_policy_alloc(), it will call uninitialed completion in cpufreq_sysfs_release() when kobject_init_and_add() fails. And that will cause a crash such as the following page fault in complete: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffffffffffff8 [..] RIP: 0010:complete+0x98/0x1f0 [..] Call Trace: kobject_put+0x1be/0x4c0 cpufreq_online.cold+0xee/0x1fd cpufreq_add_dev+0x183/0x1e0 subsys_interface_register+0x3f5/0x4e0 cpufreq_register_driver+0x3b7/0x670 acpi_cpufreq_init+0x56c/0x1000 [acpi_cpufreq] do_one_initcall+0x13d/0x780 do_init_module+0x1c3/0x630 load_module+0x6e67/0x73b0 __do_sys_finit_module+0x181/0x240 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.1.6 before 5.4.229; from 5.5 before 5.10.163; from 5.11 before 5.15.87; from 5.16 before 6.0.18; from 6.1 before 6.1.4 — fixed in 5.10.163, 5.15.87, 5.4.229, 6.0.18, 6.1.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.163, 5.15.87, 5.4.229, 6.0.18. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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