Service interruption via TIPC socket refcount leak
Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Resource leakage in the Linux kernel TIPC socket code allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeated failed socket insertions. The tipc_sk_create() failure path returns after tipc_sk_insert() rejects a new socket without calling sk_free(), leaving the allocated socket reference unreleased. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and enough TIPC socket insertions to reach the failure path, after which repeated attempts consume kernel memory and interrupt service.
Summary
What happened
Resource leakage in the Linux kernel TIPC socket code allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeated failed socket insertions. The tipc_sk_create() failure path returns after tipc_sk_insert() rejects a new socket without calling sk_free(), leaving the allocated socket reference unreleased. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and enough TIPC socket insertions to reach the failure path, after which repeated attempts consume kernel memory and interrupt service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49620
- Published
- Feb 26, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- 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=3.18
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <00aff3590fc0a73bddd3b743863c14e76fd35c0c
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <3b2957fc09fe1ac7f07f40dd50dd5f93e3f3a7a2
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <4919d82f7041157a421ca9bf39a78551d5ad8a1b
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <638fa20b618b2bbcf86da71231624cc82121a036
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <7bc9e7f70bc57d8f02ffea2a42094281effb15ef
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <833ecd0eae76eadf81d6d747bb5bc992d1151867
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <ef488669b2652bde5b6ee5a409a5b048a2a50db4
- Affected versionversion=5b8fa7ce823a59a328e0a7661df2478bfb745de4 <efa78f2ae363428525fb4981bb63c555ee79f3c7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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