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CVE-2022-50095 High

posix-cpu-timers: Cleanup CPU timers before freeing them during exec

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-cpu-timers: Cleanup CPU timers before freeing them during exec Commit 55e8c8eb2c7b ("posix-cpu-timers: Store a reference to a pid not a task") started looking up tasks by PID when deleting a CPU timer. When a non-leader thread calls execve, it will switch PIDs with the leader process. Then, as it calls exit_itimers, posix_cpu_timer_del cannot find the task because the timer still points out to the old PID. That means that armed timers won't be disarmed, that is, they won't be removed from the timerqueue_list. exit_itimers will still release their memory, and when that list is later processed, it leads to a use-after-free. Clean up the timers from the de-threaded task before freeing them. This prevents a reported use-after-free.

Exploit probability 0.2%
Published June 18, 2025
Required by Not available
Last source change August 12, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Linux Kernel
Unknown Unknown

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2022-50095

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-cpu-timers: Cleanup CPU timers before freeing them during exec Commit 55e8c8eb2c7b ("posix-cpu-timers: Store a reference to a pid not a task") started looking up tasks by PID when deleting a CPU timer. When a non-leader thread calls execve, it will switch PIDs with the leader process. Then, as it calls exit_itimers, posix_cpu_timer_del cannot find the task because the timer still points out to the old PID. That means that armed timers won't be disarmed, that is, they won't be removed from the timerqueue_list. exit_itimers will still release their memory, and when that list is later processed, it leads to a use-after-free. Clean up the timers from the de-threaded task before freeing them. This prevents a reported use-after-free.

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05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence