CVE-2022-49438

Service interruption via SPARC speaker refcount leak

Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Resource leak in the sparcspkr driver in Linux allows local users to exhaust kernel resources during device probing. The bbc_beep_probe function obtains a reference-counted firmware node with of_find_node_by_path() but omits the matching of_node_put(). Exposure requires the SPARC BBC speaker driver and its firmware node; retained node references can consume kernel resources and interrupt service.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.27%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource leak in the sparcspkr driver in Linux allows local users to exhaust kernel resources during device probing. The bbc_beep_probe function obtains a reference-counted firmware node with of_find_node_by_path() but omits the matching of_node_put(). Exposure requires the SPARC BBC speaker driver and its firmware node; retained node references can consume kernel resources and interrupt service.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-49438
Published
Feb 26, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 26, 2025CVE 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=2.6.26
  2. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <1124e39fea0e2fdb4202f95b716cb97cc7de7cc7
  3. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <2f51db16cb740ff90086189a1ef2581eab665591
  4. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <353bc58ac6c782d4dcde9136a91d1f90867938fe
  5. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <418b6a3e12f75638abc5673eb76cb32127d0ab13
  6. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <6e07ccc7d56130f760d23f67a70c45366c07debc
  7. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <73d6f42d8d86648bec2e73d34fe1648cb6d23e08
  8. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <bbc2b0ce6042dd3117827f10ea8cb67e0ab786da
  9. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <c8994b30d71d64d5dcc9bc0edbfdf367171aa96f
  10. Affected versionversion=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <f13064b0f2c651a3fbb0749932795c6fd21556a8

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2.6.26; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <1124e39fea0e2fdb4202f95b716cb97cc7de7cc7; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <2f51db16cb740ff90086189a1ef2581eab665591; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <353bc58ac6c782d4dcde9136a91d1f90867938fe; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <418b6a3e12f75638abc5673eb76cb32127d0ab13; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <6e07ccc7d56130f760d23f67a70c45366c07debc; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <73d6f42d8d86648bec2e73d34fe1648cb6d23e08; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <bbc2b0ce6042dd3117827f10ea8cb67e0ab786da; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <c8994b30d71d64d5dcc9bc0edbfdf367171aa96f; version=9c1a5077fdca99356c891af37931e537dea874f5 <f13064b0f2c651a3fbb0749932795c6fd21556a8

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS: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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

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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