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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2022-49086 json

net: openvswitch: fix leak of nested actions

published 2025-02-26 20 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-55118

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 18%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

net: openvswitch: fix leak of nested actions

While parsing user-provided actions, openvswitch module may dynamically allocate memory and store pointers in the internal copy of the actions. So this memory has to be freed while destroying the actions.

Currently there are only two such actions: ct() and set(). However, there are many actions that can hold nested lists of actions and ovs_nla_free_flow_actions() just jumps over them leaking the memory.

For example, removal of the flow with the following actions will lead to a leak of the memory allocated by nf_ct_tmpl_alloc():

actions:clone(ct(commit),0)

Non-freed set() action may also leak the 'dst' structure for the tunnel info including device references.

Under certain conditions with a high rate of flow rotation that may cause significant memory leak problem (2MB per second in reporter's case). The problem is also hard to mitigate, because the user doesn't have direct control over the datapath flows generated by OVS.

Fix that by iterating over all the nested actions and freeing everything that needs to be freed recursively.

New build time assertion should protect us from this problem if new actions will be added in the future.

Unfortunately, openvswitch module doesn't use NLA_F_NESTED, so all attributes has to be explicitly checked. sample() and clone() actions are mixing extra attributes into the user-provided action list. That prevents some code generalization too.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 4.19.249, 5.4.200, 5.10.111, 5.15.34, 5.16.20, 5.17.3, 5.18
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.17.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49086

  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-126.142
  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-37.39
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1085.92
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1011.14
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1089.97
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1008.12
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1008.10
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1033.37

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49086

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • bpftool RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • kernel-core RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • kernel-tools RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • python3-perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • kernel-modules RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
  • kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 9 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1

red hat advisories RHSA-2022:8267RHSA-2022:8973RHSA-2022:7683RHSA-2022:5626

  • kernel-64kb SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +3 more 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.100.1.150500.6.47.1
  • kernel-rt SLE Micro 5.4, SLE Micro 5.3 5.14.21-150400.15.115.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Micro 5.4, SLE Micro 5.3 5.14.21-150400.15.115.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:01600-1SUSE-SU-2025:1241-1SUSE-SU-2025:1183-1SUSE-SU-2025:1176-1SUSE-SU-2025:1027-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2022-49086 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: net: openvswitch: fix leak of nested actions

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +6 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7683
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8267
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) perf 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8267
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) perf 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, bpftool 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-core 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-tools 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, python3-perf 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:7683
show 5 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, bpftool 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-core 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-tools 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, python3-perf 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-modules 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8267
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.4) perf 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, bpftool 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-core 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-tools 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, python3-perf 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5626
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) kernel 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, bpftool 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-core 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-tools 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, python3-perf 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-modules 5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:8973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB EUS (v.8.4) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5626
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 18% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.