Local denial of service via leaked objects
Published Aug 22, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Memory leak in Linux kernel nf_tables allows local users to exhaust resources by repeatedly updating stateful objects. In net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c, the transaction update path initializes a temporary object but frees it with kfree() without invoking its destroy callback, leaving object resources allocated. Reaching the path requires local low-privilege access to the nftables control plane, and sustained updates can degrade availability through resource exhaustion.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in Linux kernel nf_tables allows local users to exhaust resources by repeatedly updating stateful objects. In net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c, the transaction update path initializes a temporary object but frees it with kfree() without invoking its destroy callback, leaving object resources allocated. Reaching the path requires local low-privilege access to the nftables control plane, and sustained updates can degrade availability through resource exhaustion.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-48933
- Published
- Aug 22, 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
- Aug 22, 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.4
- Affected versionversion=d62d0ba97b5803183e70cfded7f7b9da76893bf5 <34bb90e407e3288f610558beaae54ecaa32b11c4
- Affected versionversion=d62d0ba97b5803183e70cfded7f7b9da76893bf5 <53026346a94c43f35c32b18804041bc483271d87
- Affected versionversion=d62d0ba97b5803183e70cfded7f7b9da76893bf5 <7e9880e81d3fd6a43c202f205717485290432826
- Affected versionversion=d62d0ba97b5803183e70cfded7f7b9da76893bf5 <dad3bdeef45f81a6e90204bcc85360bb76eccec7
- Affected versionversion=d62d0ba97b5803183e70cfded7f7b9da76893bf5 <e96e204ee6fa46702f6c94c3c69a09e69e0eac52
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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