CVE-2022-49533 ath11k: Change max no of active probe SSID and BSSID to fw capability
A buffer overflow in the ath11k Wi-Fi driver allows local attackers to overwrite memory pointers, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.
- 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
What is CVE-2022-49533?
CVE-2022-49533 is a high-severity memory corruption 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: Change max no of active probe SSID and BSSID to fw capability
The maximum number of SSIDs in a for active probe requests is currently reported as 16 (WLAN_SCAN_PARAMS_MAX_SSID) when registering the driver. The scan_req_params structure only has the capacity to hold 10 SSIDs. This leads to a buffer overflow which can be triggered from wpa_supplicant in userspace. When copying the SSIDs into the scan_req_params structure in the ath11k_mac_op_hw_scan route, it can overwrite the extraie pointer.
Firmware supports 16 ssid * 4 bssid, for each ssid 4 bssid combo probe request will be sent, so totally 64 probe requests supported. So set both max ssid and bssid to 16 and 4 respectively. Remove the redundant macros of ssid and bssid.
Tested-on: IPQ8074 hw2.0 AHB WLAN.HK.2.7.0.1-01300-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49533?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-49533?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2022-49533 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49533 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49533, GHSA-vw9q-9cr4-4qj5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-49533, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2022-49533, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49533.