Use After Free in Linux
CVE-2022-50095
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-cpu-timers: Cleanup CPU timers before freeing them during exec Commit 55e8c8eb2c7b ("posix-cpu-timers: Store a reference to a pid not a task") started looking up tasks by PID when deleting a CPU timer. When a non-leader thread calls execve, it will switch PIDs with the leader process. Then, as it calls exit_itimers, posix_cpu_timer_del cannot find the task because the timer still points out to the old PID. That means that armed timers won't be disarmed, that is, they won't be removed from the timerqueue_list. exit_itimers will still release their memory, and when that list is later processed, it leads to a use-after-free. Clean up the timers from the de-threaded task before freeing them. This prevents a reported use-after-free.
Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free
EPSS: 0.002 (11.7th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Linux — versions 55e8c8eb2c7b6bf30e99423ccfe7ca032f498f59, 5.7, 0
- Linux Linux_kernel
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2022-50095?
- CVE-2022-50095 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-06-18.
- How severe is CVE-2022-50095?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.