CVE-2022-50240 — linux / linux_kernel
Use After FreeIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
android: binder: stop saving a pointer to the VMA
Do not record a pointer to a VMA outside of the mmap_lock for later use. This is unsafe and there are a number of failure paths after the recorded VMA pointer may be freed during setup. There is no callback to the driver to clear the saved pointer from generic mm code. Furthermore, the VMA pointer may become stale if any number of VMA operations end up freeing the VMA so saving it was fragile to being with.
Instead, change the binder_alloc struct to record the start address of the VMA and use vma_lookup() to get the vma when needed. Add lockdep mmap_lock checks on updates to the vma pointer to ensure the lock is held and depend on that lock for synchronization of readers and writers - which was already the case anyways, so the smp_wmb()/smp_rmb() was not necessary.
[[email protected]: fix drivers/android/binder_alloc_selftest.c]
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux / linux_kernel | 4.20 | 5.4.224 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.5 | 5.10.154 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.11 | 5.15.61 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.16 | 5.18.18 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.19 | 5.19.2 |
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/015ac18be7de25d17d6e5f1643cb3b60bfbe859e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1ec3f76a436d750fd5023caec5da0494fc2870d2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27a594bc7a7c8238d239e3cdbcf2edfa3bbe9a1b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/622ef885a89ad04cfb76ee478fb44f051125d1f1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/925e6b6f82c9c80ab3c17acbde8d16f349da7d26
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a43cfc87caaf46710c8027a8c23b8a55f1078f19
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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
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