High · published October 15, 2025
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: rtw89: fix use-after-free in rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait()
There is a bug observed when rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait() tries to
access already freed skb_data:
BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free write in rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:1110
CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 41377 Comm: kworker/u64:24 Not tainted 6.17.0-rc1+ #1 PREEMPT(lazy)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS edk2-20250523-14.fc42 05/23/2025
Workqueue: events_unbound cfg80211_wiphy_work [cfg80211]
Use-after-free write at 0x0000000020309d9d (in kfence-#251):
rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:1110
rtw89_core_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:5338
rtw89_hw_scan_complete_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:7979
rtw89_chanctx_proceed_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3165
rtw89_chanctx_proceed drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.h:141
rtw89_hw_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:8012
rtw89_mac_c2h_scanofld_rsp drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/mac.c:5059
rtw89_fw_c2h_work drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:6758
process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3241
worker_thread kernel/workqueue.c:3400
kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258
kfence-#251: 0x0000000056e2393d-0x000000009943cb62, size=232, cache=skbuff_head_cache
allocated by task 41377 on cpu 6 at 77869.159548s (0.009551s ago):
__alloc_skb net/core/skbuff.c:659
__netdev_alloc_skb net/core/skbuff.c:734
ieee80211_nullfunc_get net/mac80211/tx.c:5844
rtw89_core_send_nullfunc drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:3431
rtw89_core_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:5338
rtw89_hw_scan_complete_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:7979
rtw89_chanctx_proceed_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3165
rtw89_chanctx_proceed drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3194
rtw89_hw_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:8012
rtw89_mac_c2h_scanofld_rsp drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/mac.c:5059
rtw89_fw_c2h_work drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:6758
process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3241
worker_thread kernel/workqueue.c:3400
kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258
freed by task 1045 on cpu 9 at 77869.168393s (0.001557s ago):
ieee80211_tx_status_skb net/mac80211/status.c:1117
rtw89_pci_release_txwd_skb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:564
rtw89_pci_release_tx_skbs.isra.0 drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:651
rtw89_pci_release_tx drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:676
rtw89_pci_napi_poll drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:4238
__napi_poll net/core/dev.c:7495
net_rx_action net/core/dev.c:7557 net/core/dev.c:7684
handle_softirqs kernel/softirq.c:580
do_softirq.part.0 kernel/softirq.c:480
__local_bh_enable_ip kernel/softirq.c:407
rtw89_pci_interrupt_threadfn drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:927
irq_thread_fn kernel/irq/manage.c:1133
irq_thread kernel/irq/manage.c:1257
kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258
It is a consequence of a race between the waiting and the signaling side
of the completion:
Waiting thread Completing thread
rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait()
rcu_assign_pointer(skb_data->wait, wait)
/* start waiting */
wait_for_completion_timeout()
rtw89_pci_tx_status()
rtw89_core_tx_wait_complete()
rcu_read_lock()
/* signals completion and
---truncated---