# CVE-2022-49130: ath11k: mhi: use mhi_sync_power_up()

> A missing firmware file causes a null pointer dereference crash in the ath11k kernel driver during module removal, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 12 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49130, GHSA-fjq8-jwg4-jxfg, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49130

## What is CVE-2022-49130?

CVE-2022-49130 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

ath11k: mhi: use mhi_sync_power_up()

If amss.bin was missing ath11k would crash during 'rmmod ath11k_pci'. The
reason for that was that we were using mhi_async_power_up() which does not
check any errors. But mhi_sync_power_up() on the other hand does check for
errors so let's use that to fix the crash.

I was not able to find a reason why an async version was used.
ath11k_mhi_start() (which enables state ATH11K_MHI_POWER_ON) is called from
ath11k_hif_power_up(), which can sleep. So sync version should be safe to use
here.

[  145.569731] general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN PTI
[  145.569789] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
[  145.569843] CPU: 2 PID: 1628 Comm: rmmod Kdump: loaded Tainted: G        W         5.16.0-wt-ath+ #567
[  145.569898] Hardware name: Intel(R) Client Systems NUC8i7HVK/NUC8i7HVB, BIOS HNKBLi70.86A.0067.2021.0528.1339 05/28/2021
[  145.569956] RIP: 0010:ath11k_hal_srng_access_begin+0xb5/0x2b0 [ath11k]
[  145.570028] Code: df 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 ec 01 00 00 48 8b ab a8 00 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 ea 48 c1 ea 03 <0f> b6 14 02 48 89 e8 83 e0 07 83 c0 03 45 85 ed 75 48 38 d0 7c 08
[  145.570089] RSP: 0018:ffffc900025d7ac0 EFLAGS: 00010246
[  145.570144] RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffff88814fca2dd8 RCX: 1ffffffff50cb455
[  145.570196] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff88814fca2dd8 RDI: ffff88814fca2e80
[  145.570252] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffffffa8659497
[  145.570329] R10: fffffbfff50cb292 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff88814fca0000
[  145.570410] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88814fca2798 R15: ffff88814fca2dd8
[  145.570465] FS:  00007fa399988540(0000) GS:ffff888233e00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[  145.570519] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[  145.570571] CR2: 00007fa399b51421 CR3: 0000000137898002 CR4: 00000000003706e0
[  145.570623] Call Trace:
[  145.570675]  <TASK>
[  145.570727]  ? ath11k_ce_tx_process_cb+0x34b/0x860 [ath11k]
[  145.570797]  ath11k_ce_tx_process_cb+0x356/0x860 [ath11k]
[  145.570864]  ? tasklet_init+0x150/0x150
[  145.570919]  ? ath11k_ce_alloc_pipes+0x280/0x280 [ath11k]
[  145.570986]  ? tasklet_clear_sched+0x42/0xe0
[  145.571042]  ? tasklet_kill+0xe9/0x1b0
[  145.571095]  ? tasklet_clear_sched+0xe0/0xe0
[  145.571148]  ? irq_has_action+0x120/0x120
[  145.571202]  ath11k_ce_cleanup_pipes+0x45a/0x580 [ath11k]
[  145.571270]  ? ath11k_pci_stop+0x10e/0x170 [ath11k_pci]
[  145.571345]  ath11k_core_stop+0x8a/0xc0 [ath11k]
[  145.571434]  ath11k_core_deinit+0x9e/0x150 [ath11k]
[  145.571499]  ath11k_pci_remove+0xd2/0x260 [ath11k_pci]
[  145.571553]  pci_device_remove+0x9a/0x1c0
[  145.571605]  __device_release_driver+0x332/0x660
[  145.571659]  driver_detach+0x1e7/0x2c0
[  145.571712]  bus_remove_driver+0xe2/0x2d0
[  145.571772]  pci_unregister_driver+0x21/0x250
[  145.571826]  __do_sys_delete_module+0x30a/0x4b0
[  145.571879]  ? free_module+0xac0/0xac0
[  145.571933]  ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare.part.0+0x18c/0x370
[  145.571986]  ? syscall_enter_from_user_mode+0x1d/0x50
[  145.572039]  ? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x79/0x100
[  145.572097]  do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
[  145.572153]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Tested-on: WCN6855 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HSP.1.1-03003-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-2

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49130?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49130?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49130 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49130 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-49130 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49130 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49130 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49130/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49130/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49130
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49130
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49130

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49130/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
