CVE-2022-50457
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-10-01

Last updated on: 2025-10-02

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mtd: core: Fix refcount error in del_mtd_device() del_mtd_device() will call of_node_put() to mtd_get_of_node(mtd), which is mtd->dev.of_node. However, memset(&mtd->dev, 0) is called before of_node_put(). As the result, of_node_put() won't do anything in del_mtd_device(), and causes the refcount leak. del_mtd_device() memset(&mtd->dev, 0, sizeof(mtd->dev) # clear mtd->dev of_node_put() mtd_get_of_node(mtd) # mtd->dev is cleared, can't locate of_node # of_node_put(NULL) won't do anything Fix the error by caching the pointer of the device_node. OF: ERROR: memory leak, expected refcount 1 instead of 2, of_node_get()/of_node_put() unbalanced - destroy cset entry: attach overlay node /spi/spi-sram@0 CPU: 3 PID: 275 Comm: python3 Tainted: G N 6.1.0-rc3+ #54 0d8a1edddf51f172ff5226989a7565c6313b08e2 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x67/0x83 kobject_get+0x155/0x160 of_node_get+0x1f/0x30 of_fwnode_get+0x43/0x70 fwnode_handle_get+0x54/0x80 fwnode_get_nth_parent+0xc9/0xe0 fwnode_full_name_string+0x3f/0xa0 device_node_string+0x30f/0x750 pointer+0x598/0x7a0 vsnprintf+0x62d/0x9b0 ... cfs_overlay_release+0x30/0x90 config_item_release+0xbe/0x1a0 config_item_put+0x5e/0x80 configfs_rmdir+0x3bd/0x540 vfs_rmdir+0x18c/0x320 do_rmdir+0x198/0x330 __x64_sys_rmdir+0x2c/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x37/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [<[email protected]>: Light reword of the commit log]
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Meta Information
Published
2025-10-01
Last Modified
2025-10-02
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-10-01
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2022-50457
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 6.1.0-rc3
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability is a reference count error in the Linux kernel's mtd subsystem, specifically in the del_mtd_device() function. The function calls of_node_put() on a device node pointer obtained from mtd_get_of_node(mtd), but before this call, it clears the mtd->dev structure with memset. This clearing causes the device node pointer to be lost, so of_node_put() is called with a NULL pointer and does nothing. As a result, the reference count on the device node is not decremented properly, causing a reference count leak.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause a memory leak in the Linux kernel due to unbalanced reference counting on device nodes. Over time, this leak could lead to increased memory usage and potentially degrade system stability or performance, especially on systems that frequently add and remove MTD devices.


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