Bug 2376076 (CVE-2025-38116)

Summary: CVE-2025-38116 kernel: wifi: ath12k: fix uaf in ath12k_core_init()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-07-03 09:03:52 UTC 
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
Comment 1 Avinash Hanwate 2025-07-03 16:25:50 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025070325-CVE-2025-38116-1d80@gregkh/T