Service interruption via leaked per-CPU chain statistics
Published Apr 28, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Resource leak in Linux kernel 5.3 through 6.0-rc6 allows local users to exhaust memory through nftables chain creation errors. In nf_tables_addchain(), an nft_chain_offload_priority() error frees the base chain but fails to free its allocated per-CPU statistics. Local low-privilege access is required; repeated failures consume kernel memory until memory pressure interrupts service.
Summary
What happened
Resource leak in Linux kernel 5.3 through 6.0-rc6 allows local users to exhaust memory through nftables chain creation errors. In nf_tables_addchain(), an nft_chain_offload_priority() error frees the base chain but fails to free its allocated per-CPU statistics. Local low-privilege access is required; repeated failures consume kernel memory until memory pressure interrupts service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-48642
- Published
- Apr 28, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 28, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=3bc158f8d0330f0ac58597c023acca2234c14616 <08d7524f366a886b99b1630a24a27dd6e0d7f852
- Affected versionversion=3bc158f8d0330f0ac58597c023acca2234c14616 <985b031667c3177b9e7fb9787b989628e4271714
- Affected versionversion=3bc158f8d0330f0ac58597c023acca2234c14616 <9a4d6dd554b86e65581ef6b6638a39ae079b17ac
- Affected versionversion=3bc158f8d0330f0ac58597c023acca2234c14616 <b043a525a3f5520abb676a7cd8f6328fdf959e88
- Affected versionversion=5.3
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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