Out-of-bounds Read in Linux
CVE-2022-50255
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Fix reading strings from synthetic events The follow commands caused a crash: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing # echo 's:open char file[]' > dynamic_events # echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:file=filename:onchange($file).trace(open,$file)' > events/syscalls/sys_enter_openat/trigger' # echo 1 > events/synthetic/open/enable BOOM! The problem is that the synthetic event field "char file[]" will read the value given to it as a string without any memory checks to make sure the address is valid. The above example will pass in the user space address and the sythetic event code will happily call strlen() on it and then strscpy() where either one will cause an oops when accessing user space addresses. Use the helper functions from trace_kprobe and trace_eprobe that can read strings safely (and actually succeed when the address is from user space and the memory is mapped in). Now the above can show: packagekitd-1721 [000] ...2. 104.597170: open: file=/usr/lib/rpm/fileattrs/cmake.attr in:imjournal-978 [006] ...2. 104.599642: open: file=/var/lib/rsyslog/imjournal.state.tmp packagekitd-1721 [000] ...2. 104.626308: open: file=/usr/lib/rpm/fileattrs/debuginfo.attr
Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow
EPSS: 0.001 (4.5th 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 bd82631d7ccdc894af2738e47abcba2cb6e7dea9, 5.10, 0
- Linux Linux_kernel
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2022-50255?
- CVE-2022-50255 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-09-15.
- How severe is CVE-2022-50255?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.