# CVE-2022-49523: ath11k: disable spectral scan during spectral deinit > A null pointer dereference in the ath11k Wi-Fi driver causes a kernel crash when removing the module with spectral scan enabled. - **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:** 15 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49523, GHSA-4hqj-96cj-gmwp, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49523 ## What is CVE-2022-49523? CVE-2022-49523 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: disable spectral scan during spectral deinit When ath11k modules are removed using rmmod with spectral scan enabled, crash is observed. Different crash trace is observed for each crash. Send spectral scan disable WMI command to firmware before cleaning the spectral dbring in the spectral_deinit API to avoid this crash. call trace from one of the crash observed: [ 1252.880802] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000008 [ 1252.882722] pgd = 0f42e886 [ 1252.890955] [00000008] *pgd=00000000 [ 1252.893478] Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] PREEMPT SMP ARM [ 1253.093035] CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.4.89 #0 [ 1253.115261] Hardware name: Generic DT based system [ 1253.121149] PC is at ath11k_spectral_process_data+0x434/0x574 [ath11k] [ 1253.125940] LR is at 0x88e31017 [ 1253.132448] pc : [<7f9387b8>] lr : [<88e31017>] psr: a0000193 [ 1253.135488] sp : 80d01bc8 ip : 00000001 fp : 970e0000 [ 1253.141737] r10: 88e31000 r9 : 970ec000 r8 : 00000080 [ 1253.146946] r7 : 94734040 r6 : a0000113 r5 : 00000057 r4 : 00000000 [ 1253.152159] r3 : e18cb694 r2 : 00000217 r1 : 1df1f000 r0 : 00000001 [ 1253.158755] Flags: NzCv IRQs off FIQs on Mode SVC_32 ISA ARM Segment user [ 1253.165266] Control: 10c0383d Table: 5e71006a DAC: 00000055 [ 1253.172472] Process swapper/0 (pid: 0, stack limit = 0x60870141) [ 1253.458055] [<7f9387b8>] (ath11k_spectral_process_data [ath11k]) from [<7f917fdc>] (ath11k_dbring_buffer_release_event+0x214/0x2e4 [ath11k]) [ 1253.466139] [<7f917fdc>] (ath11k_dbring_buffer_release_event [ath11k]) from [<7f8ea3c4>] (ath11k_wmi_tlv_op_rx+0x1840/0x29cc [ath11k]) [ 1253.478807] [<7f8ea3c4>] (ath11k_wmi_tlv_op_rx [ath11k]) from [<7f8fe868>] (ath11k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x180/0x4e0 [ath11k]) [ 1253.490699] [<7f8fe868>] (ath11k_htc_rx_completion_handler [ath11k]) from [<7f91308c>] (ath11k_ce_per_engine_service+0x2c4/0x3b4 [ath11k]) [ 1253.502386] [<7f91308c>] (ath11k_ce_per_engine_service [ath11k]) from [<7f9a4198>] (ath11k_pci_ce_tasklet+0x28/0x80 [ath11k_pci]) [ 1253.514811] [<7f9a4198>] (ath11k_pci_ce_tasklet [ath11k_pci]) from [<8032227c>] (tasklet_action_common.constprop.2+0x64/0xe8) [ 1253.526476] [<8032227c>] (tasklet_action_common.constprop.2) from [<803021e8>] (__do_softirq+0x130/0x2d0) [ 1253.537756] [<803021e8>] (__do_softirq) from [<80322610>] (irq_exit+0xcc/0xe8) [ 1253.547304] [<80322610>] (irq_exit) from [<8036a4a4>] (__handle_domain_irq+0x60/0xb4) [ 1253.554428] [<8036a4a4>] (__handle_domain_irq) from [<805eb348>] (gic_handle_irq+0x4c/0x90) [ 1253.562321] [<805eb348>] (gic_handle_irq) from [<80301a78>] (__irq_svc+0x58/0x8c) Tested-on: QCN6122 hw1.0 AHB WLAN.HK.2.6.0.1-00851-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1 Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49523? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-49523? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-49523 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49523 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-2022-49523 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-49523 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-2022-49523 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-2022-49523/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49523/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49523 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49523 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49523 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49523/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.