CVE-2022-50539

A reference leak flaw was found in the Linux kernel's OMAP4 platform code in the SRAM initialization logic. A local user on ARM OMAP4 systems can trigger this issue during system initialization when of_find_compatible_node returns a device tree node pointer with an incremented reference count that is never released. This results in a permanent reference leak preventing proper device tree node cleanup and leading to resource exhaustion or denial of service.

The omap4_sram_init function uses of_find_compatible_node to locate compatible device tree nodes for SRAM configuration. This function increments the node's reference count when returning a match, requiring the caller to balance this with of_node_put when finished. The OMAP4 code fails to release this reference after using the node, violating device tree reference counting conventions. While this occurs during early boot initialization rather than runtime, the leaked reference persists for the system's lifetime and represents a resource management violation. The issue affects ARM OMAP4 platforms, which are primarily embedded systems and older mobile devices.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.