CVE-2022-48817: linux kernel vulnerability

CVE-2022-48817: medium vulnerability affecting linux kernel. Check CVSS, KEV status, business impact and recommended administrator actions.
CVE-2022-48817CVSS 5.5Linux

CVE-2022-48817: linux kernel vulnerability

CVE-2022-48817: medium vulnerability affecting linux kernel. Check CVSS, KEV status, business impact and recommended administrator actions.

CVSS
5.5 MEDIUM
EPSS
18.85%
Known exploited
not in KEV
Product
linux kernel

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: ar9331: register the mdiobus under devres As explained in commits: 74b6d7d13307 ("net: dsa: realtek: register the MDIO bus under devres") 5135e96a3dd2 ("net: dsa: don't allocate the slave_mii_bus using devres") mdiobus_free() will panic when called from devm_mdiobus_free() <- devres_release_all() <- __device_release_driver(), and that mdiobus was not previously unregistered. The ar9331 is an MDIO device, so the initial set of constraints that I thought would cause this (I2C or SPI buses which call ->remove on ->shutdown) do not apply. But there is one more which applies here. If the DSA master itself is on a bus that calls ->remove from ->shutdown (like dpaa2-eth, which is on the fsl-mc bus), there is a device link between the switch and the DSA master, and device_links_unbind_consumers() will unbind the ar9331 switch driver on shutdown. So the same treatment must be applied to all DSA switch drivers, which is: either use devres for both the mdiobus allocation and registration, or don't use devres at all. The ar9331 driver doesn't have a complex code structure for mdiobus removal, so just replace of_mdiobus_register with the devres variant in order to be all-devres and ensure that we don't free a still-registered bus.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2022-48817, a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

Security newsletter

Get new CVE alerts before they become an incident

We send selected infrastructure threats in English, with practical notes for DataHouse environments.

  • DataHouse: server administration and secure cloud
  • Hostilla.pl: hosting and mail services
  • SecDNS.pl: free DNS security layer