---
id: CVE-2022-50259
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  bpf, sockmap: fix race in sock_map_free()

  sock_map_free() calls release_sock(sk) without owning a reference
  on the socket
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  bpf, sockmap: fix race in sock_map_free()

  sock_map_free() calls release_sock(sk) without owning a reference
  on the socket. This can cause use-after-free as syzbot foun…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-362
  - CWE-911
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.4.14, < 5.4.229'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.5.1, < 5.10.163'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.86'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.16'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.2'
  - linux_kernel = 5.5
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.1.2
published: '2025-09-15'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T22:17:29.527'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50259'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a182f8d607464911756b4dbef5d6cad8de22469'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4cabc3af4a6f36c222fecb15858c1060e59218e7'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c3568166129bc73fd6b37748d2d8f95cd8f22f3'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a443c55d96dede82a724df6e70a318ad15c199e1'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be719496ae6a7fc325e9e5056a52f63ebc84cc0c'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8b2b392a646bf5cb9413c1cc7a39d99c1b65a62'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2022/cve-2022-50259.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50259'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2395227'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50259'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50259'
  - url: >-
      https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025091551-CVE-2022-50259-6276@gregkh/T
tags:
  - nvd
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - cve.org
  - score-dispute
epss: 0.00118
epssPercentile: 0.01719
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-15T21:30:46.333972Z'
scores:
  nvd: 7.8
  vendor: 4.1
  cna: 7.8
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T21:45:11.284Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf, sockmap: fix race in sock_map_free()

sock_map_free() calls release_sock(sk) without owning a reference
on the socket. This can cause use-after-free as syzbot found [1]

Jakub Sitnicki already took care of a similar issue
in sock_hash_free() in commit 75e68e5bf2c7 ("bpf, sockhash:
Synchronize delete from bucket list on map free")

[1]
refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3785 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0x17c/0x1a0 lib/refcount.c:31
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 3785 Comm: kworker/u4:6 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc7-syzkaller-00103-gef4d3ea40565 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022
Workqueue: events_unbound bpf_map_free_deferred
RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x17c/0x1a0 lib/refcount.c:31
Code: 68 8b 31 c0 e8 75 71 15 fd 0f 0b e9 64 ff ff ff e8 d9 6e 4e fd c6 05 62 9c 3d 0a 01 48 c7 c7 80 bb 68 8b 31 c0 e8 54 71 15 fd <0f> 0b e9 43 ff ff ff 89 d9 80 e1 07 80 c1 03 38 c1 0f 8c a2 fe ff
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000456fb60 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: eae59bab72dcd700 RBX: 0000000000000004 RCX: ffff8880207057c0
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000201 RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 0000000000000004 R08: ffffffff816fdabd R09: fffff520008adee5
R10: fffff520008adee5 R11: 1ffff920008adee4 R12: 0000000000000004
R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: ffff88807b1c6c00 R15: 1ffff1100f638dcf
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000001b30c30000 CR3: 000000000d08e000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:344 [inline]
refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:359 [inline]
__sock_put include/net/sock.h:779 [inline]
tcp_release_cb+0x2d0/0x360 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1092
release_sock+0xaf/0x1c0 net/core/sock.c:3468
sock_map_free+0x219/0x2c0 net/core/sock_map.c:356
process_one_work+0x81c/0xd10 kernel/workqueue.c:2289
worker_thread+0xb14/0x1330 kernel/workqueue.c:2436
kthread+0x266/0x300 kernel/kthread.c:376
ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:306
</TASK>

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 5.4.14, < 5.4.229`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.5.1, < 5.10.163`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.86`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.16`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.2`
- `linux_kernel = 5.5`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.1.2`

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Low · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · updated 2026-10-16 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2022/cve-2022-50259.json)