Kernel crash via unallocated EFI workqueue destruction
Published Aug 21, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026
NULL-pointer dereference in Linux kernel EFI initialization allows local users to crash the kernel during a failed initialization. The EFI cleanup path in drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c calls destroy_workqueue() when the runtime-services workqueue was never allocated, dereferencing NULL. The crash path requires EFI initialization to fail after runtime services are unsupported or disabled; the reported consequence is kernel availability loss without data disclosure or modification.
Summary
What happened
NULL-pointer dereference in Linux kernel EFI initialization allows local users to crash the kernel during a failed initialization. The EFI cleanup path in drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c calls destroy_workqueue() when the runtime-services workqueue was never allocated, dereferencing NULL. The crash path requires EFI initialization to fail after runtime services are unsupported or disabled; the reported consequence is kernel availability loss without data disclosure or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-48879
- Published
- Aug 21, 2024
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 21, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 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=2ff3c97b47521d6700cc6485c7935908dcd2c27c <585a0b2b3ae7903c6abee3087d09c69e955a7794
- Affected versionversion=4.19.142 <4.19.270
- Affected versionversion=5167f194da6947e19a3e970485ee3ccb44f7958d <5fcf75a8a4c3e7ee9122d143684083c9faf20452
- Affected versionversion=5.4.61 <5.4.229
- Affected versionversion=5.7.18 <5.8
- Affected versionversion=5.8.4 <5.9
- Affected versionversion=5.9
- Affected versionversion=98086df8b70c06234a8f4290c46064e44dafa0ed <4ca71bc0e1995d15486cd7b60845602a28399cb5
- Affected versionversion=98086df8b70c06234a8f4290c46064e44dafa0ed <703c13fe3c9af557d312f5895ed6a5fda2711104
- Affected versionversion=98086df8b70c06234a8f4290c46064e44dafa0ed <adc96d30f6503d30dc68670c013716f1d9fcc747
- Affected versionversion=98086df8b70c06234a8f4290c46064e44dafa0ed <e2ea55564229e4bea1474af15b111b3a3043b76f
- Affected versionversion=e6584124b9823151ef586d10dedf565ade50cea6
- Affected versionversion=f591a42b8f9a9d20e01d0462f4f55d2176ac52ec
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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