Memory Leak Issue in Linux Kernel Affecting blk-iolatency Feature

CVE-2022-50550

What is CVE-2022-50550?

A memory leak vulnerability affects the blk-iolatency feature in the Linux kernel, occurring when a gendisk is initialized successfully but the add_disk() function fails. This situation arises, for instance, when a loop device is created with an invalid number of minor device numbers. The iolatency component is initialized correctly during the initialization phase but is not cleaned up during error handling, leading to potential resource exhaustion. To mitigate this issue, an additional call to rq_qos_exit() has been implemented in the blkcg_exit_disk() function, ensuring that resources are freed even in error states. This fix highlights the importance of managing resource allocation efficiently within kernel protocols.

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