Kernel crash via misaligned skb metadata
Published May 1, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 4.12 through 6.1-rc5 allows local users to crash the kernel through an odd-sized BPF skb test run. bpf_prog_test_run_skb() leaves skb_shared_info unaligned when an odd user-supplied packet size plus headroom is not rounded to SMP_CACHE_BYTES. Low-privileged local access to the BPF test-run path is required, and the reported fault occurs on arm64 with KFENCE enabled, producing a use-after-free read and kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 4.12 through 6.1-rc5 allows local users to crash the kernel through an odd-sized BPF skb test run. bpf_prog_test_run_skb() leaves skb_shared_info unaligned when an odd user-supplied packet size plus headroom is not rounded to SMP_CACHE_BYTES. Low-privileged local access to the BPF test-run path is required, and the reported fault occurs on arm64 with KFENCE enabled, producing a use-after-free read and kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49840
- Published
- May 1, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 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?
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- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <047824a730699c6c66df43306b80f700c9dfc2fd
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <1b597f2d6a55e9f549989913860ad5170da04964
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <730fb1ef974a13915bc7651364d8b3318891cd70
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <7a704dbfd3735304e261f2787c52fbc7c3884736
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <d3fd203f36d46aa29600a72d57a1b61af80e4a25
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <e60f37a1d379c821c17b08f366412dce9ef3d99f
- Affected versionversion=1cf1cae963c2e6032aebe1637e995bc2f5d330f4 <eaa8edd86514afac9deb9bf9a5053e74f37edf40
- Affected versionversion=4.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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