CVE-2022-50709

wifi: ath9k: avoid uninit memory read in ath9k_htc_rx_msg()

published December 24, 2025

CVSS
—
EPSS
0%
Percentile
11.3
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: ath9k: avoid uninit memory read in ath9k_htc_rx_msg()

syzbot is reporting uninit value at ath9k_htc_rx_msg() [1], for

ioctl(USB_RAW_IOCTL_EP_WRITE) can call ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream() with

pkt_len = 0 but ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream() uses

__dev_alloc_skb(pkt_len + 32, GFP_ATOMIC) based on an assumption that

pkt_len is valid. As a result, ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream() allocates skb

with uninitialized memory and ath9k_htc_rx_msg() is reading from

uninitialized memory.

Since bytes accessed by ath9k_htc_rx_msg() is not known until

ath9k_htc_rx_msg() is called, it would be difficult to check minimal valid

pkt_len at "if (pkt_len > 2 * MAX_RX_BUF_SIZE) {" line in

ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream().

We have two choices. One is to workaround by adding __GFP_ZERO so that

ath9k_htc_rx_msg() sees 0 if pkt_len is invalid. The other is to let

ath9k_htc_rx_msg() validate pkt_len before accessing. This patch chose

the latter.

Note that I'm not sure threshold condition is correct, for I can't find

details on possible packet length used by this protocol.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS
Not scored
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00215 · 11.3th percentile
Published
2025-12-24T10:55Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 24 DEC 10:55Z
    wifi: ath9k: avoid uninit memory read in ath9k_htc_rx_msg()
    cvelistv5