net: openvswitch: fix leak of nested actions
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 10 fixed, 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-401.
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.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 4.3 and later | 4.19.249, 5.4.200, 5.10.111, 5.15.34, 5.16.20, 5.17.3, 5.18 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.3 and later Fixed in 4.19.249, 5.4.200, 5.10.111, 5.15.34, 5.16.20, 5.17.3, 5.18 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 2
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.19.249, 5.4.200, 5.10.111, 5.15.34, 5.16.20, 5.17.3, 5.18
Red Hat 4 advisories
- RHSA-2022:8973 Released 2022-12-13 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security and bug fix update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) kernel-debug-devel-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-devel-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0 +5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) bpftool-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0, kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-70.36.1.el9_0 +14
- RHSA-2022:8267 Released 2022-11-15 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) kernel-debug-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1 +5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1 +14
- RHSA-2022:7683 Released 2022-11-08 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8 +19
Show 1 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2022:5626 Released 2022-07-19 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security and bug fix update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.4) bpftool-4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4 +19
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB EUS (v.8.4) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:7683 |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8973 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8973 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:7683 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.4) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:5626 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8973 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB EUS (v.8.4) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:5626 |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-49086
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jpcv-cqh9-hpf3
References
Patch 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7438dc55c0709819b813f4778aec2c48b782990b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ef6f9ce0a79aa23b10fc5f3b3cab3814a25aac40
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5ae05b5eb58773cfec307ff88aff4cfd843c4cff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/837b96d8103938e35e7d92cd9db96af914ca4fff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3554c214b83ec9a839ed574263a34218f372990c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/53bce9d19b0a9d245b25cd050b81652ed974a509
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f30fb9166d4f15a1aa19449b9da871fe0ed4796
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Sources
- CVE-2022-49086 · CVE Program
- CVE-2022-49086 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jpcv-cqh9-hpf3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2022-49086 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences