Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
Linux Linux — net: tap: NULL pointer derefence in dev_parse_header_protocol when skb->dev is null
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
L L L N U N N H 5.5 .0017 6.4 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
Linux faa3baa2828c5e1c4374f3e60041f75c64f5fcb6 – —
Linux 5.12 – 5.10.258
TIMELINE
Jun 18 Reserved by Linux
Jun 18 Published (CNA: Linux)
Aug 12 ENRICHED — CVE-2022-50073 (Linux). Received CVSS 5.5 and CPE data from NVD.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: tap: NULL pointer derefence in dev_parse_header_protocol when skb->dev is null
Fixes a NULL pointer derefence bug triggered from tap driver.
When tap_get_user calls virtio_net_hdr_to_skb the skb->dev is null
(in tap.c skb->dev is set after the call to virtio_net_hdr_to_skb)
virtio_net_hdr_to_skb calls dev_parse_header_protocol which
needs skb->dev field to be valid.
The line that trigers the bug is in dev_parse_header_protocol
(dev is at offset 0x10 from skb and is stored in RAX register)
if (!dev->header_ops || !dev->header_ops->parse_protocol)
22e1: mov 0x10(%rbx),%rax
22e5: mov 0x230(%rax),%rax
Setting skb->dev before the call in tap.c fixes the issue.
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000230
RIP: 0010:virtio_net_hdr_to_skb.constprop.0+0x335/0x410 [tap]
Code: c0 0f 85 b7 fd ff ff eb d4 41 39 c6 77 cf 29 c6 48 89 df 44 01 f6 e8 7a 79 83 c1 48 85 c0 0f 85 d9 fd ff ff eb b7 48 8b 43 10 <48> 8b 80 30 02 00 00 48 85 c0 74 55 48 8b 40 28 48 85 c0 74 4c 48
RSP: 0018:ffffc90005c27c38 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888298f25300 RCX: 0000000000000010
RDX: 0000000000000005 RSI: ffffc90005c27cb6 RDI: ffff888298f25300
RBP: ffffc90005c27c80 R08: 00000000ffffffea R09: 00000000000007e8
R10: ffff88858ec77458 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000001
R13: 0000000000000014 R14: ffffc90005c27e08 R15: ffffc90005c27cb6
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88858ec40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000230 CR3: 0000000281408006 CR4: 00000000003706e0
Call Trace:
tap_get_user+0x3f1/0x540 [tap]
tap_sendmsg+0x56/0x362 [tap]
? get_tx_bufs+0xc2/0x1e0 [vhost_net]
handle_tx_copy+0x114/0x670 [vhost_net]
handle_tx+0xb0/0xe0 [vhost_net]
handle_tx_kick+0x15/0x20 [vhost_net]
vhost_worker+0x7b/0xc0 [vhost]
? vhost_vring_call_reset+0x40/0x40 [vhost]
kthread+0xfa/0x120
? kthread_complete_and_exit+0x20/0x20
ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|
| June 18, 2025 | Reserved | Reserved by Linux |
| June 18, 2025 | Published | Published (CNA: Linux) |
| August 12, 2026 | ENRICHED | ENRICHED — CVE-2022-50073 (Linux). Received CVSS 5.5 and CPE data from NVD. |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 2 rows
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
|---|
| Linux | Linux | — | faa3baa2828c5e1c4374f3e60041f75c64f5fcb6 | — |
| Linux | Linux | — | 5.12 | 5.10.258 |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2022-50073 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.