Rapid7

vulnerability

Ubuntu: (CVE-2022-50545): linux vulnerability

Severity
5
CVSS
(AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C)
Published
Oct 7, 2025
Added
Oct 10, 2025
Modified
Apr 16, 2026

Description

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

r6040: Fix kmemleak in probe and remove

There is a memory leaks reported by kmemleak:

unreferenced object 0xffff888116111000 (size 2048):
comm "modprobe", pid 817, jiffies 4294759745 (age 76.502s)
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
00 c4 0a 04 81 88 ff ff 08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff ................
08 10 11 16 81 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
backtrace:
[<ffffffff815bcd82>] kmalloc_trace+0x22/0x60
[<ffffffff827e20ee>] phy_device_create+0x4e/0x90
[<ffffffff827e6072>] get_phy_device+0xd2/0x220
[<ffffffff827e7844>] mdiobus_scan+0xa4/0x2e0
[<ffffffff827e8be2>] __mdiobus_register+0x482/0x8b0
[<ffffffffa01f5d24>] r6040_init_one+0x714/0xd2c [r6040]
...

The problem occurs in probe process as follows:
r6040_init_one:
mdiobus_register
mdiobus_scan <- alloc and register phy_device,
the reference count of phy_device is 3
r6040_mii_probe
phy_connect <- connect to the first phy_device,
so the reference count of the first
phy_device is 4, others are 3
register_netdev <- fault inject succeeded, goto error handling path

// error handling path
err_out_mdio_unregister:
mdiobus_unregister(lp->mii_bus);
err_out_mdio:
mdiobus_free(lp->mii_bus); <- the reference count of the first
phy_device is 1, it is not released
and other phy_devices are released
// similarly, the remove process also has the same problem

The root cause is traced to the phy_device is not disconnected when
removes one r6040 device in r6040_remove_one() or on error handling path
after r6040_mii probed successfully. In r6040_mii_probe(), a net ethernet
device is connected to the first PHY device of mii_bus, in order to
notify the connected driver when the link status changes, which is the
default behavior of the PHY infrastructure to handle everything.
Therefore the phy_device should be disconnected when removes one r6040
device or on error handling path.

Fix it by adding phy_disconnect() when removes one r6040 device or on
error handling path after r6040_mii probed successfully.

Solutions

ubuntu-upgrade-linuxubuntu-upgrade-linux-awsubuntu-upgrade-linux-aws-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-aws-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-aws-fipsubuntu-upgrade-linux-aws-hweubuntu-upgrade-linux-azureubuntu-upgrade-linux-azure-4-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-azure-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-azure-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-azure-fipsubuntu-upgrade-linux-bluefieldubuntu-upgrade-linux-fipsubuntu-upgrade-linux-gcpubuntu-upgrade-linux-gcp-4-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-gcp-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-gcp-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-gcp-fipsubuntu-upgrade-linux-gkeubuntu-upgrade-linux-gkeopubuntu-upgrade-linux-hweubuntu-upgrade-linux-hwe-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-hwe-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-ibmubuntu-upgrade-linux-ibm-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-intel-iot-realtimeubuntu-upgrade-linux-intel-iotgubuntu-upgrade-linux-intel-iotg-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-iotubuntu-upgrade-linux-kvmubuntu-upgrade-linux-lowlatencyubuntu-upgrade-linux-lowlatency-hwe-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-nvidiaubuntu-upgrade-linux-nvidia-tegra-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-oracleubuntu-upgrade-linux-oracle-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-oracle-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-raspiubuntu-upgrade-linux-raspi-5-4ubuntu-upgrade-linux-realtimeubuntu-upgrade-linux-riscv-5-15ubuntu-upgrade-linux-xilinx-zynqmp

References

    Title
    Rapid7 Labs

    2026 Global Threat Landscape Report

    The predictive window has collapsed. Exploitation follows disclosure in days. See how attackers are accelerating and how to stay ahead.