CVE Catalog

CVE-2025-38116

HighCVSS 7.8
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.16%

6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel's ath12k WiFi driver, a use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability exists during initialization. If ath12k_core_hw_group_assign() or ath12k_core_hw_group_create() fails, the registered notifier chain is not properly unregistered, and its memory is freed after rmmod. Subsequent access to this chain can lead to UAF.

Risk Assessment

An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to kernel memory, potentially leading to privilege escalation or system crash.

Recommendation

Apply the Linux kernel patch that adds ath12k_core_panic_notifier_unregister() call in error cases to prevent UAF.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: fix uaf in ath12k_core_init() When the execution of ath12k_core_hw_group_assign() or ath12k_core_hw_group_create() fails, the registered notifier chain is not unregistered properly. Its memory is freed after rmmod, which may trigger to a use-after-free (UAF) issue if there is a subsequent access to this notifier chain. Fixes the issue by calling ath12k_core_panic_notifier_unregister() in failure cases. Call trace: notifier_chain_register+0x4c/0x1f0 (P) atomic_notifier_chain_register+0x38/0x68 ath12k_core_init+0x50/0x4e8 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_probe+0x5f8/0xc28 [ath12k] pci_device_probe+0xbc/0x1a8 really_probe+0xc8/0x3a0 __driver_probe_device+0x84/0x1b0 driver_probe_device+0x44/0x130 __driver_attach+0xcc/0x208 bus_for_each_dev+0x84/0x100 driver_attach+0x2c/0x40 bus_add_driver+0x130/0x260 driver_register+0x70/0x138 __pci_register_driver+0x68/0x80 ath12k_pci_init+0x30/0x68 [ath12k] ath12k_init+0x28/0x78 [ath12k] Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.0.c5-00481-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS