# CVE-2022-50187: ath11k: fix netdev open race

> A race condition in the ath11k Wi-Fi driver causes a kernel crash when opening the network device before resources are fully allocated.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 18 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50187, GHSA-qx85-gr6x-6vqf, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50187

## What is CVE-2022-50187?

CVE-2022-50187 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Jun 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: fix netdev open race

Make sure to allocate resources needed before registering the device.

This specifically avoids having a racing open() trigger a BUG_ON() in
mod_timer() when ath11k_mac_op_start() is called before the
mon_reap_timer as been set up.

I did not see this issue with next-20220310, but I hit it on every probe
with next-20220511. Perhaps some timing changed in between.

Here's the backtrace:

[   51.346947] kernel BUG at kernel/time/timer.c:990!
[   51.346958] Internal error: Oops - BUG: 0 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
...
[   51.578225] Call trace:
[   51.583293]  __mod_timer+0x298/0x390
[   51.589518]  mod_timer+0x14/0x20
[   51.595368]  ath11k_mac_op_start+0x41c/0x4a0 [ath11k]
[   51.603165]  drv_start+0x38/0x60 [mac80211]
[   51.610110]  ieee80211_do_open+0x29c/0x7d0 [mac80211]
[   51.617945]  ieee80211_open+0x60/0xb0 [mac80211]
[   51.625311]  __dev_open+0x100/0x1c0
[   51.631420]  __dev_change_flags+0x194/0x210
[   51.638214]  dev_change_flags+0x24/0x70
[   51.644646]  do_setlink+0x228/0xdb0
[   51.650723]  __rtnl_newlink+0x460/0x830
[   51.657162]  rtnl_newlink+0x4c/0x80
[   51.663229]  rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x124/0x390
[   51.669917]  netlink_rcv_skb+0x58/0x130
[   51.676314]  rtnetlink_rcv+0x18/0x30
[   51.682460]  netlink_unicast+0x250/0x310
[   51.688960]  netlink_sendmsg+0x19c/0x3e0
[   51.695458]  ____sys_sendmsg+0x220/0x290
[   51.701938]  ___sys_sendmsg+0x7c/0xc0
[   51.708148]  __sys_sendmsg+0x68/0xd0
[   51.714254]  __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x28/0x40
[   51.720900]  invoke_syscall+0x48/0x120

Tested-on: WCN6855 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50187?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50187?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50187 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50187 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-2022-50187 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50187 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Jun 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-2022-50187 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-2022-50187/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50187/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50187
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50187
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50187

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50187/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.