Service interruption via leaked deferred-close structures
Published Jun 18, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
A CIFS memory leak in affected Linux kernels allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by canceling deferred file closes. In fs/cifs/misc.c, deferred-close cancellation leaves the associated cifs_deferred_close structure allocated instead of releasing it. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and repeated CIFS close activity; accumulated orphan allocations can interrupt system availability.
Summary
What happened
A CIFS memory leak in affected Linux kernels allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by canceling deferred file closes. In fs/cifs/misc.c, deferred-close cancellation leaves the associated cifs_deferred_close structure allocated instead of releasing it. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and repeated CIFS close activity; accumulated orphan allocations can interrupt system availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-50076
- Published
- Jun 18, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 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=0ca6ac8a2691762307beaa4841255d1cfe6b2684
- Affected versionversion=5.13.12 <5.14
- Affected versionversion=5.14
- Affected versionversion=9e992755be8f2d458a0bcbefd19e493483c1dba2 <60b6d38add7b9c17d6e5d49ee8e930ea1a5650c5
- Affected versionversion=9e992755be8f2d458a0bcbefd19e493483c1dba2 <860efae127888ae535bc4eda1b7f27642727c69e
- Affected versionversion=9e992755be8f2d458a0bcbefd19e493483c1dba2 <ca08d0eac020d48a3141dbec0a3cf64fbdb17cde
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.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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