Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
Unscored CVE-2022-50635 EUVD-2022-55721GHSA-3rmf-xhh6-vpwj

powerpc/kprobes: Fix null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe()

Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

powerpc/kprobes: Fix null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe()

I found a null pointer reference in arch_prepare_kprobe():

# echo 'p cmdline_proc_show' > kprobe_events
# echo 'p cmdline_proc_show+16' >> kprobe_events
Kernel attempted to read user page (0) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000000
Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000000050bfc
Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA PowerNV
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 122 Comm: sh Not tainted 6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e #10
NIP: c000000000050bfc LR: c000000000050bec CTR: 0000000000005bdc
REGS: c0000000348475b0 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e)
MSR: 9000000000009033 <SF,HV,EE,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 88002444 XER: 20040006
CFAR: c00000000022d100 DAR: 0000000000000000 DSISR: 40000000 IRQMASK: 0
...
NIP arch_prepare_kprobe+0x10c/0x2d0
LR arch_prepare_kprobe+0xfc/0x2d0
Call Trace:
0xc0000000012f77a0 (unreliable)
register_kprobe+0x3c0/0x7a0
__register_trace_kprobe+0x140/0x1a0
__trace_kprobe_create+0x794/0x1040
trace_probe_create+0xc4/0xe0
create_or_delete_trace_kprobe+0x2c/0x80
trace_parse_run_command+0xf0/0x210
probes_write+0x20/0x40
vfs_write+0xfc/0x450
ksys_write+0x84/0x140
system_call_exception+0x17c/0x3a0
system_call_vectored_common+0xe8/0x278
--- interrupt: 3000 at 0x7fffa5682de0
NIP: 00007fffa5682de0 LR: 0000000000000000 CTR: 0000000000000000
REGS: c000000034847e80 TRAP: 3000 Not tainted (6.0.0-rc3-00007-gdcf8e5633e2e)
MSR: 900000000280f033 <SF,HV,VEC,VSX,EE,PR,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 44002408 XER: 00000000

The address being probed has some special:

cmdline_proc_show: Probe based on ftrace
cmdline_proc_show+16: Probe for the next instruction at the ftrace location

The ftrace-based kprobe does not generate kprobe::ainsn::insn, it gets
set to NULL. In arch_prepare_kprobe() it will check for:

...
prev = get_kprobe(p->addr - 1);
preempt_enable_no_resched();
if (prev && ppc_inst_prefixed(ppc_inst_read(prev->ainsn.insn))) {
...

If prev is based on ftrace, 'ppc_inst_read(prev->ainsn.insn)' will occur
with a null pointer reference. At this point prev->addr will not be a
prefixed instruction, so the check can be skipped.

Check if prev is ftrace-based kprobe before reading 'prev->ainsn.insn'
to fix this problem.

[mpe: Trim oops]

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.8 5.15.75

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.0.3-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.0.3-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.0.3-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1014.16 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +1 5.15.0-60.66 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1030.34 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1033.40 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1033.40.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1029.36 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke 5.15.0-1027.32 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1015.19 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm 5.15.0-1025.28 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1025.30 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.15.0-1028.33 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1017.17 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.15.0-1029.35 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-raspi 5.15.0-1024.26 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1030.34~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1033.40~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1029.36~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 +1 5.15.0-60.66~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1025.30~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1029.35~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1029.33~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9 bpftool 7.0.0-284.11.1.el9_2 RHSA-2023:2458
RHEL 9 perf +48 5.14.0-284.11.1.el9_2 RHSA-2023:2458
RHEL 8 perf +26 4.18.0-553.el8_10 RHSA-2024:3138

Rocky Linux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Rocky Linux 8 kernel 4.18.0-553.123.1.el8_10.cloud.0.1 RXSA-2024:3138
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-64kb +6 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1.150500.6.65.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLES 15 SP4 kernel-64kb +6 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLES 15 SP4 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
Show 10 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1.150500.6.65.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP5 kernel-docs +4 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP4 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP4 kernel-docs +4 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1.150500.6.65.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150500.13.118.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0263-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-source +1 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE Micro 5.4 kernel-default 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Micro 5.4 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Micro 5.4 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0411-1
SLE Micro 5.3 kernel-default 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Micro 5.3 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Micro 5.3 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0411-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.232.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0369-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.232.1.150300.18.138.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0369-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-rt +1 5.3.18-150300.232.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0350-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_34 1-150500.11.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP4 kernel-default 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP4 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_48 1-150400.9.7.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE HPC 15 SP5 kernel-64kb +5 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE HPC 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.133.1.150500.6.65.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1
SLE HPC 15 SP4 kernel-64kb +5 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1
SLE HPC 15 SP4 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 SUSE-SU-2026:0617-1

Advisories 10

References