Kernel crash via unchecked allocation failure
Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the Ralink pinctrl driver in affected Linux kernel versions allows local users to crash the kernel. The driver stores the result of devm_kcalloc in data->domains without checking for allocation failure and later dereferences the null pointer. Reachability requires the Ralink pinctrl driver to probe a compatible controller while the allocation fails; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the Ralink pinctrl driver in affected Linux kernel versions allows local users to crash the kernel. The driver stores the result of devm_kcalloc in data->domains without checking for allocation failure and later dereferences the null pointer. Reachability requires the Ralink pinctrl driver to probe a compatible controller while the allocation fails; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49608
- Published
- Feb 26, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 26, 2025CVE 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
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.18
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <13596e6c9e541e90e5fc2c52b23f08b951370da9
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <44016a85419ca0d4f1e4d0127b330f8e4e2a57d0
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <5595d30c4dc27d939635c3188c68203b6ece1711
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <5694b162f275fb9a9f89422701b2b963be11e496
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <6194c021496addc11763d1ffa89ce5751889fe3c
- Affected versionversion=a86854d0c599b3202307abceb68feee4d7061578 <c3b821e8e406d5650e587b7ac624ac24e9b780a8
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.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo