Kernel panic via exported freed initialization symbol
Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel branches beginning with 5.5 allows local users to trigger a kernel panic via a loadable module. tick_nohz_full_setup remains exported despite residing in freed .init.text memory, so a module can resolve and call the stale address. Exploitation requires the ability to load a kernel module that invokes the symbol, and the reported consequence is an availability-only kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel branches beginning with 5.5 allows local users to trigger a kernel panic via a loadable module. tick_nohz_full_setup remains exported despite residing in freed .init.text memory, so a module can resolve and call the stale address. Exploitation requires the ability to load a kernel module that invokes the symbol, and the reported consequence is an availability-only kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49675
- Published
- Feb 26, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-908, 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
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.5
- Affected versionversion=ae9e557b5be2e285f48ee945d9c8faf75d4f6a66 <2390095113e98fc52fffe35c5206d30d9efe3f78
- Affected versionversion=ae9e557b5be2e285f48ee945d9c8faf75d4f6a66 <c4ff3ffe0138234774602152fe67e3a898c615c6
- Affected versionversion=ae9e557b5be2e285f48ee945d9c8faf75d4f6a66 <ea32b27e2f8c58c92bff5ecba7fcf64b97707089
- Affected versionversion=ae9e557b5be2e285f48ee945d9c8faf75d4f6a66 <f4a80ec8c51d68be4b7a7830c510f75080c5e417
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.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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