CVE-2022-50881

wifi: ath9k: Fix use-after-free in ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect()

published December 30, 2025

CVSS
—
EPSS
0%
Percentile
9.4
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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

wifi: ath9k: Fix use-after-free in ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect()

This patch fixes a use-after-free in ath9k that occurs in

ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect() when ath9k_destroy_wmi() is trying to access

'drv_priv' that has already been freed by ieee80211_free_hw(), called by

ath9k_htc_hw_deinit(). The patch moves ath9k_destroy_wmi() before

ieee80211_free_hw(). Note that urbs from the driver should be killed

before freeing 'wmi' with ath9k_destroy_wmi() as their callbacks will

access 'wmi'.

Found by a modified version of syzkaller.

==================================================================

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ath9k_destroy_wmi+0x38/0x40

Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881069132a0 by task kworker/0:1/7

CPU: 0 PID: 7 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G O 5.14.0+ #131

Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.12.1-0-ga5cab58e9a3f-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

Workqueue: usb_hub_wq hub_event

Call Trace:

dump_stack_lvl+0x8e/0xd1

print_address_description.constprop.0.cold+0x93/0x334

? ath9k_destroy_wmi+0x38/0x40

? ath9k_destroy_wmi+0x38/0x40

kasan_report.cold+0x83/0xdf

? ath9k_destroy_wmi+0x38/0x40

ath9k_destroy_wmi+0x38/0x40

ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect+0x329/0x3f0

? ath9k_hif_usb_suspend+0x120/0x120

? usb_disable_interface+0xfc/0x180

usb_unbind_interface+0x19b/0x7e0

? usb_autoresume_device+0x50/0x50

device_release_driver_internal+0x44d/0x520

bus_remove_device+0x2e5/0x5a0

device_del+0x5b2/0xe30

? __device_link_del+0x370/0x370

? usb_remove_ep_devs+0x43/0x80

? remove_intf_ep_devs+0x112/0x1a0

usb_disable_device+0x1e3/0x5a0

usb_disconnect+0x267/0x870

hub_event+0x168d/0x3950

? rcu_read_lock_sched_held+0xa1/0xd0

? hub_port_debounce+0x2e0/0x2e0

? check_irq_usage+0x860/0xf20

? drain_workqueue+0x281/0x360

? lock_release+0x640/0x640

? rcu_read_lock_sched_held+0xa1/0xd0

? rcu_read_lock_bh_held+0xb0/0xb0

? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x273/0x3e0

process_one_work+0x92b/0x1460

? pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0x330/0x330

? rwlock_bug.part.0+0x90/0x90

worker_thread+0x95/0xe00

? __kthread_parkme+0x115/0x1e0

? process_one_work+0x1460/0x1460

kthread+0x3a1/0x480

? set_kthread_struct+0x120/0x120

ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30

The buggy address belongs to the page:

page:ffffea00041a44c0 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x106913

flags: 0x200000000000000(node=0|zone=2)

raw: 0200000000000000 0000000000000000 dead000000000122 0000000000000000

raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000

page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected

page_owner tracks the page as freed

page last allocated via order 3, migratetype Unmovable, gfp_mask 0x40dc0(GFP_KERNEL|__GFP_COMP|__GFP_ZERO), pid 7, ts 38347963444, free_ts 41399957635

prep_new_page+0x1aa/0x240

get_page_from_freelist+0x159a/0x27c0

__alloc_pages+0x2da/0x6a0

alloc_pages+0xec/0x1e0

kmalloc_order+0x39/0xf0

kmalloc_order_trace+0x19/0x120

__kmalloc+0x308/0x390

wiphy_new_nm+0x6f5/0x1dd0

ieee80211_alloc_hw_nm+0x36d/0x2230

ath9k_htc_probe_device+0x9d/0x1e10

ath9k_htc_hw_init+0x34/0x50

ath9k_hif_usb_firmware_cb+0x25f/0x4e0

request_firmware_work_func+0x131/0x240

process_one_work+0x92b/0x1460

worker_thread+0x95/0xe00

kthread+0x3a1/0x480

page last free stack trace:

free_pcp_prepare+0x3d3/0x7f0

free_unref_page+0x1e/0x3d0

device_release+0xa4/0x240

kobject_put+0x186/0x4c0

put_device+0x20/0x30

ath9k_htc_disconnect_device+0x1cf/0x2c0

ath9k_htc_hw_deinit+0x26/0x30

ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect+0x2d9/0x3f0

usb_unbind_interface+0x19b/0x7e0

device_release_driver_internal+0x44d/0x520

bus_remove_device+0x2e5/0x5a0

device_del+0x5b2/0xe30

usb_disable_device+0x1e3/0x5a0

usb_disconnect+0x267/0x870

hub_event+0x168d/0x3950

process_one_work+0x92b/0x1460

Memory state around the buggy address:

ffff888106913180: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

ffff888106913200: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

>ffff888

---truncated---

The record
Technical detail
CVSS
Not scored
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00200 · 9.4th percentile
Published
2025-12-30T12:23Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 30 DEC 12:23Z
    wifi: ath9k: Fix use-after-free in ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect()
    cvelistv5