CVE-2022-50737
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
fs/ntfs3: Validate index root when initialize NTFS security
This enhances the sanity check for $SDH and $SII while initializing NTFS security, guarantees these index root are legit.
[ 162.459513] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.460176] Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880037bca99 by task mount/243 [ 162.460851] [ 162.461252] CPU: 0 PID: 243 Comm: mount Not tainted 6.0.0-rc7 #42 [ 162.461744] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 162.462609] Call Trace: [ 162.462954] [ 162.463276] dump_stack_lvl+0x49/0x63 [ 162.463822] print_report.cold+0xf5/0x689 [ 162.464608] ? unwind_get_return_address+0x3a/0x60 [ 162.465766] ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.466975] kasan_report+0xa7/0x130 [ 162.467506] ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0xc0/0xf0 [ 162.467998] ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.468536] __asan_load2+0x68/0x90 [ 162.468923] hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.469282] ? cmp_uints+0xe0/0xe0 [ 162.469557] ? cmp_sdh+0x90/0x90 [ 162.469864] ? ni_find_attr+0x214/0x300 [ 162.470217] ? ni_load_mi+0x80/0x80 [ 162.470479] ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 162.470931] ? ntfs_bread_run+0x190/0x190 [ 162.471307] ? indx_get_root+0xe4/0x190 [ 162.471556] ? indx_get_root+0x140/0x190 [ 162.471833] ? indx_init+0x1e0/0x1e0 [ 162.472069] ? fnd_clear+0x115/0x140 [ 162.472363] ? _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x100/0x100 [ 162.472731] indx_find+0x184/0x470 [ 162.473461] ? sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x57/0xc0 [ 162.474429] ? indx_find_buffer+0x2d0/0x2d0 [ 162.474704] ? do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [ 162.474962] dir_search_u+0x196/0x2f0 [ 162.475381] ? ntfs_nls_to_utf16+0x450/0x450 [ 162.475661] ? ntfs_security_init+0x3d6/0x440 [ 162.475906] ? is_sd_valid+0x180/0x180 [ 162.476191] ntfs_extend_init+0x13f/0x2c0 [ 162.476496] ? ntfs_fix_post_read+0x130/0x130 [ 162.476861] ? iput.part.0+0x286/0x320 [ 162.477325] ntfs_fill_super+0x11e0/0x1b50 [ 162.477709] ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0 [ 162.477970] ? vsprintf+0x20/0x20 [ 162.478258] ? set_blocksize+0x95/0x150 [ 162.478538] get_tree_bdev+0x232/0x370 [ 162.478789] ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0 [ 162.479038] ntfs_fs_get_tree+0x15/0x20 [ 162.479374] vfs_get_tree+0x4c/0x130 [ 162.479729] path_mount+0x654/0xfe0 [ 162.480124] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.480484] ? finish_automount+0x2e0/0x2e0 [ 162.480894] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.481467] ? kmem_cache_free+0x1c4/0x440 [ 162.482280] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.482714] do_mount+0xd6/0xf0 [ 162.483264] ? path_mount+0xfe0/0xfe0 [ 162.484782] ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20 [ 162.485593] __x64_sys_mount+0xca/0x110 [ 162.486024] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [ 162.486543] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 162.487141] RIP: 0033:0x7f9d374e948a [ 162.488324] Code: 48 8b 0d 11 fa 2a 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 49 89 ca b8 a5 00 00 008 [ 162.489728] RSP: 002b:00007ffe30e73d18 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5 [ 162.490971] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000561cdb43a060 RCX: 00007f9d374e948a [ 162.491669] RDX: 0000561cdb43a260 RSI: 0000561cdb43a2e0 RDI: 0000561cdb442af0 [ 162.492050] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000561cdb43a280 R09: 0000000000000020 [ 162.492459] R10: 00000000c0ed0000 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 0000561cdb442af0 [ 162.493183] R13: 0000561cdb43a260 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00000000ffffffff [ 162.493644] [ 162.493908] [ 162.494214] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 162.494761] page:000000003e38a3d5 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x37bc [ 162.496064] flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) [ 162.497278] raw: 000fffffc0000000 ffffea00000df1c8 ffffea00000df008 0000000000000000 [ 162.498928] raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000240000 0 ---truncated---
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's NTFS3 driver, triggered by insufficient validation of index root structures during security initialization, allows local privilege escalation.
Vulnerability
Overview
CVE-2022-50737 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's NTFS3 file system driver. The root cause is insufficient validation of the index root structures for the $SDH and $SII attributes during NTFS security initialization. When the kernel processes ntfs_security_init and ntfs_extend_init are called, the driver does not properly verify the integrity of these index roots before using them in operations like hdr_find_e, leading to a use-after-free condition [1].
Exploitation
An attacker with the ability to mount a crafted NTFS filesystem can trigger this vulnerability. The attack surface is local, requiring the attacker to either physically access the system or have the ability to mount a malicious filesystem. No special privileges are needed beyond the ability to mount a filesystem, which is often available to unprivileged users in many configurations. The vulnerability is triggered during the mount operation, specifically when the kernel initializes the NTFS security context [1].
Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash) or potentially achieve local privilege escalation. The use-after-free can corrupt kernel memory, which may be leveraged to execute arbitrary code in the kernel context. The KASAN report in the description confirms the read of freed memory, indicating a high severity issue [1].
Mitigation
The vulnerability has been patched in the Linux kernel. The fix adds proper validation of the index root structures before use, ensuring that the index roots are legitimate. Users should update to a kernel version containing the commit d7ce7bb6881aae186e50f57eea935cff8c504751 or later. No workaround is available; updating the kernel is the recommended action [1].
AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1Patches
4d7ce7bb6881a24ee53c6bce1d6379ce24296bfcdbae0523bVulnerability mechanics
Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
4News mentions
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