Service interruption via KUnit allocation-failure memory leak
Published Jun 18, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
Memory leak in Linux KUnit 5.17.14 through 5.17.x, 5.18.3 through 5.18.17, and 5.19 allows local users to interrupt service. In lib/kunit/executor.c, kunit_filter_tests keeps the copied suite allocated when the subsequent filtered-array allocation fails instead of freeing it on that error path. Reachability requires a locally initiated KUnit test run with filtering and a specific allocation failure; repeated leaked copies can exhaust kernel memory.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in Linux KUnit 5.17.14 through 5.17.x, 5.18.3 through 5.18.17, and 5.19 allows local users to interrupt service. In lib/kunit/executor.c, kunit_filter_tests keeps the copied suite allocated when the subsequent filtered-array allocation fails instead of freeing it on that error path. Reachability requires a locally initiated KUnit test run with filtering and a specific allocation failure; repeated leaked copies can exhaust kernel memory.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-50170
- Published
- Jun 18, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499
- 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=5.17.14 <5.18
- Affected versionversion=5.18.3 <5.18.18
- Affected versionversion=5.19
- Affected versionversion=80cf4932c2545bc231e933d869511008c36af1e0
- Affected versionversion=a02353f491622e49c7ddedc6a6dc4f1d6ed2150a <7d69764fa3442c7615a75c6b5c02eaa1f274bccf
- Affected versionversion=a02353f491622e49c7ddedc6a6dc4f1d6ed2150a <94681e289bf5d10c9db9db143d1a22d8717205c5
- Affected versionversion=bd8b222a0002872bb229f6c755672a093ef93ea4 <a8a7e3ced362b88b659ab54239990196ff975982
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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