CVE-2022-50741: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2022-50741 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's media: imx-jpeg driver that can cause an unexpected kernel panic due to a hardware bug in interrupt handling. Specifically, the STMBUF_HALF interrupt may be triggered after or during interrupt disable operations, leading to system instability. The vulnerability affects the Linux kernel across multiple stable branches, with fixes backported to versions 5.15.86, 6.0.16, 6.1.2, and 6.2. It was published on December 24, 2025, and carries an estimated CVSS severity of Medium with an EPSS score of approximately 0.018% (Feedly, ENISA EUVD).

The root cause is a hardware bug in the i.MX JPEG codec driver (imx-jpeg) where the STMBUF_HALF interrupt can fire unexpectedly after or during the interrupt disable sequence, violating expected driver state and triggering a kernel panic. This is classified as an improper handling of hardware interrupt state (related to CWE-362, race condition, or improper synchronization). The fix disables the STMBUF_HALF and STMBUF_RTND interrupts — which have no functional effect on driver operation — along with other unused interrupts, and clears interrupt status registers when disabling interrupts. Patches were applied to four stable kernel branches (Feedly, ENISA EUVD).

Successful triggering of this vulnerability results in an unexpected kernel panic, causing a denial of service (system crash) on affected Linux systems using the i.MX JPEG hardware codec. The impact is limited to availability — there is no evidence of confidentiality or integrity compromise. Systems using NXP i.MX SoCs with the imx-jpeg media driver are the primary affected assets (Feedly).

There is no known public exploit code, active in-the-wild exploitation, or threat actor attribution associated with CVE-2022-50741. The EPSS score is approximately 0.018%, indicating a very low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Exploitation would require the ability to trigger specific hardware interrupt conditions on a system using the affected i.MX JPEG driver (Feedly).

The Linux kernel maintainers have released patches addressing this vulnerability in the following stable versions: 5.15.86, 6.0.16, 6.1.2, and 6.2. Users should update their Linux kernel to one of these patched versions or later. The fix disables the STMBUF_HALF and STMBUF_RTND interrupts in the imx-jpeg driver and clears interrupt status on disable. No configuration-based workaround is documented; upgrading the kernel is the recommended remediation (ENISA EUVD, Feedly).