CVE-2022-50528
📋 TL;DR
This CVE-2022-50528 is a memory leak vulnerability in the AMD GPU kernel driver (drm/amdkfd) in the Linux kernel. It allows attackers to cause denial of service through resource exhaustion or potentially trigger segmentation faults. Systems using AMD GPUs with the affected kernel driver are vulnerable.
💻 Affected Systems
- Linux kernel with AMD GPU driver (drm/amdkfd)
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
System crash or kernel panic leading to complete denial of service, requiring physical or remote reboot.
Likely Case
Degraded system performance due to memory exhaustion, potentially causing application crashes or system instability.
If Mitigated
Minor performance impact with no system compromise if proper memory management controls are in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires local access or ability to execute code on the system. Exploitation involves triggering the vulnerable _gpuvm_import_dmabuf() function.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Kernel versions containing the fix commits: 7356d8e367d0e025a568e369c4cf575722cac60f, 75818afff631e1ea785a82c3e8bb82eb0dee539c, 8876793e56ec69b3be2a883b4bc440df3dbb1865, c65564790048fa416ccd26a8945c7ec0cf9ef0c7
Vendor Advisory: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7356d8e367d0e025a568e369c4cf575722cac60f
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Linux kernel to version containing the fix commits. 2. Reboot system to load new kernel. 3. Verify AMD GPU driver is functioning correctly post-update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable AMD GPU driver
linuxPrevent loading of the vulnerable amdkfd driver module
echo 'blacklist amdkfd' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
rmmod amdkfd
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict access to systems to prevent unauthorized users from executing code
- Monitor system memory usage and kernel logs for signs of memory exhaustion or segmentation faults
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check kernel version and if amdkfd module is loaded: 'uname -r' and 'lsmod | grep amdkfd'Check Version:
uname -rVerify Fix Applied:
Verify kernel version is updated and check dmesg for any amdkfd-related errors after testing GPU functionality📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Kernel oops messages
- Segmentation fault errors in dmesg
- Memory allocation failures in system logs
Network Indicators:
- None - local vulnerability only
SIEM Query:
source="kernel" AND ("amdkfd" OR "segmentation fault" OR "out of memory")