CVE-2022-50517

5.5 MEDIUM

📋 TL;DR

A Linux kernel vulnerability in the THP (Transparent Huge Pages) splitting mechanism can cause a soft lockup (system hang) when memory management operations trigger swap handling. This affects Linux systems running vulnerable kernel versions, potentially causing denial of service during memory-intensive operations.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • Linux Kernel
Versions: Kernel versions containing commit b653db77350c up to fixes in 71e2d666ef85d and 8cace0eeb03d
Operating Systems: Linux distributions using affected kernel versions
Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes
Notes: Requires THP (Transparent Huge Pages) enabled and memory-intensive operations that trigger swap handling. More likely on systems with high memory pressure.

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

System becomes completely unresponsive (soft lockup) requiring hard reboot, leading to extended downtime and potential data loss.

🟠

Likely Case

System hangs or becomes unstable during memory-intensive operations like swapping, causing application crashes and temporary unavailability.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minor performance impact during memory management operations with no system instability.

🌐 Internet-Facing: LOW - This is a local memory management issue, not directly exploitable over network.
🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Can be triggered by local processes or memory-intensive applications, potentially affecting system stability.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No
Weaponized: NO
Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No
Complexity: HIGH

This is a reliability bug, not a security vulnerability in traditional sense. Requires specific memory management conditions to trigger.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: Kernel versions with commits 71e2d666ef85d or 8cace0eeb03d

Vendor Advisory: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/71e2d666ef85d51834d658830f823560c402b8b6

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Update Linux kernel to version containing fixes 71e2d666ef85d or 8cace0eeb03d
2. Reboot system to load new kernel
3. Verify kernel version after reboot

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable THP (Transparent Huge Pages)

linux

Prevents the vulnerability by disabling the affected THP splitting mechanism

echo never > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
echo never > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag

Limit memory pressure

linux

Reduce likelihood of triggering by limiting swap usage and memory-intensive operations

sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10
ulimit -v [memory_limit_in_kb]

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Implement workarounds to disable THP or limit memory pressure
  • Monitor systems for soft lockups and have reboot procedures ready

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check kernel version and if it's between vulnerable commit b653db77350c and fixes 71e2d666ef85d/8cace0eeb03d

Check Version:

uname -r

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify kernel version contains fixes 71e2d666ef85d or 8cace0eeb03d

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • Kernel logs showing 'soft lockup' messages
  • System becoming unresponsive during memory operations
  • High CPU usage in kernel space

Network Indicators:

  • None - this is a local kernel issue

SIEM Query:

source="kernel" AND "soft lockup" AND "CPU stuck"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2022-50517
CVSS v3 Score: 5.5 (MEDIUM)
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published: October 7, 2025
Last Updated: February 5, 2026

🤖 AI-assisted analysis, reviewed for accuracy

🔗 References

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