CVE-2022-50391

Local denial of service via unreleased mempolicy

Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025

Memory leak in Linux kernel 5.17 through 6.0.16 and 6.1 through 6.1.2 allows local users to exhaust kernel memory. The set_mempolicy_home_node system call returns on a nonbinding VMA policy without calling mpol_put on the duplicated policy from mpol_dup. Any local user able to invoke the system call can repeat the error path until memory pressure interrupts service.

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 Linux kernel 5.17 through 6.0.16 and 6.1 through 6.1.2 allows local users to exhaust kernel memory. The set_mempolicy_home_node system call returns on a nonbinding VMA policy without calling mpol_put on the duplicated policy from mpol_dup. Any local user able to invoke the system call can repeat the error path until memory pressure interrupts service.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-50391
Published
Sep 18, 2025
Updated
Sep 18, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 18, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.17
  2. Affected versionversion=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <0ce4cc6d269ddc448a825955b495f662f5d9e153
  3. Affected versionversion=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <38ce7c9bdfc228c14d7621ba36d3eebedd9d4f76
  4. Affected versionversion=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <4ca0eb6b2f3add8c5daefb726ce57dc95d103d33

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.17; version=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <0ce4cc6d269ddc448a825955b495f662f5d9e153; version=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <38ce7c9bdfc228c14d7621ba36d3eebedd9d4f76; version=c6018b4b254971863bd0ad36bb5e7d0fa0f0ddb0 <4ca0eb6b2f3add8c5daefb726ce57dc95d103d33

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5CISA-ADPCVSS: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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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