CVE-2022-50342

Service interruption via floppy initialization memory leak

Published Sep 16, 2025 · Updated Sep 16, 2025

Memory leak in the Linux kernel floppy driver 5.11 allows local users to interrupt service by triggering a disk-allocation failure. When floppy_alloc_disk() fails in do_floppy_init(), the current drive lacks a disk entry, so error cleanup stops before freeing its allocated blk_mq tag set. Reaching the flaw requires local module initialization and a floppy-disk allocation failure; repeated failures consume kernel memory and can exhaust resources.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory leak in the Linux kernel floppy driver 5.11 allows local users to interrupt service by triggering a disk-allocation failure. When floppy_alloc_disk() fails in do_floppy_init(), the current drive lacks a disk entry, so error cleanup stops before freeing its allocated blk_mq tag set. Reaching the flaw requires local module initialization and a floppy-disk allocation failure; repeated failures consume kernel memory and can exhaust resources.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-50342
Published
Sep 16, 2025
Updated
Sep 16, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 2025Record 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <55b3c66a0d441cd37154ae95e44d0b82ccfd580e
  2. Affected versionversion=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <75d8c8851a4da0190c2480e84315b5fd3d0356c5
  3. Affected versionversion=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <f36d8c8651506aea5f09899f5356ece5d1384f50
  4. Affected versionversion=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <f8ace2e304c5dd8a7328db9cd2b8a4b1b98d83ec
  5. Affected versionversion=5.11

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <55b3c66a0d441cd37154ae95e44d0b82ccfd580e; version=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <75d8c8851a4da0190c2480e84315b5fd3d0356c5; version=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <f36d8c8651506aea5f09899f5356ece5d1384f50; version=302cfee150291c6cd85b1ca197d062d0b423d09c <f8ace2e304c5dd8a7328db9cd2b8a4b1b98d83ec; version=5.11

Published CVSS scores

5.5CISACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

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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