CVE-2022-48731

Soft lockup via unbounded sparse PFN scan

Published Jun 20, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026

Denial of service in Linux kernel 4.14 through 5.17-rc2 allows local users to cause a soft lockup by initiating a kmemleak scan. kmemleak_scan iterates every PFN through an extremely large node range, repeatedly testing a sparse ZONE_DEVICE hole instead of skipping it. Reachability requires permission to initiate kmemleak scanning and a large ZONE_DEVICE hole, observed when amdkfd registered memory on some AMD APUs; the consequence is prolonged CPU starvation and a watchdog soft lockup.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Linux kernel 4.14 through 5.17-rc2 allows local users to cause a soft lockup by initiating a kmemleak scan. kmemleak_scan iterates every PFN through an extremely large node range, repeatedly testing a sparse ZONE_DEVICE hole instead of skipping it. Reachability requires permission to initiate kmemleak scanning and a large ZONE_DEVICE hole, observed when amdkfd registered memory on some AMD APUs; the consequence is prolonged CPU starvation and a watchdog soft lockup.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-48731
Published
Jun 20, 2024
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-667, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 20, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.14
  2. Affected versionversion=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <352715593e81b917ce1b321e794549815b850134
  3. Affected versionversion=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <a5389c80992f0001ee505838fe6a8b20897ce96e
  4. Affected versionversion=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <c10a0f877fe007021d70f9cada240f42adc2b5db
  5. Affected versionversion=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <cebb0aceb21ad91429617a40e3a17444fabf1529
  6. Affected versionversion=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <d3533ee20e9a0e2e8f60384da7450d43d1c63d1a

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=4.14; version=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <352715593e81b917ce1b321e794549815b850134; version=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <a5389c80992f0001ee505838fe6a8b20897ce96e; version=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <c10a0f877fe007021d70f9cada240f42adc2b5db; version=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <cebb0aceb21ad91429617a40e3a17444fabf1529; version=4ef589dc9b10cdcae75a2b2b0e9b2c5e8a92c378 <d3533ee20e9a0e2e8f60384da7450d43d1c63d1a

Published CVSS scores

5.5CanonicalCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-667Improper Locking
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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