CVE-2022-50716 wifi: ar5523: Fix use-after-free on ar5523_cmd() timed out
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's ar5523 WiFi driver allows local attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2022-50716?
CVE-2022-50716 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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:
wifi: ar5523: Fix use-after-free on ar5523_cmd() timed out
syzkaller reported use-after-free with the stack trace like below [1]:
[ 38.960489][ C3] ================================================================== [ 38.963216][ C3] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ar5523_cmd_tx_cb+0x220/0x240 [ 38.964950][ C3] Read of size 8 at addr ffff888048e03450 by task swapper/3/0 [ 38.966363][ C3] [ 38.967053][ C3] CPU: 3 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/3 Not tainted 6.0.0-09039-ga6afa4199d3d-dirty #18 [ 38.968464][ C3] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.0-1.fc36 04/01/2014 [ 38.969959][ C3] Call Trace: [ 38.970841][ C3] <IRQ> [ 38.971663][ C3] dump_stack_lvl+0xfc/0x174 [ 38.972620][ C3] print_report.cold+0x2c3/0x752 [ 38.973626][ C3] ? ar5523_cmd_tx_cb+0x220/0x240 [ 38.974644][ C3] kasan_report+0xb1/0x1d0 [ 38.975720][ C3] ? ar5523_cmd_tx_cb+0x220/0x240 [ 38.976831][ C3] ar5523_cmd_tx_cb+0x220/0x240 [ 38.978412][ C3] __usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x353/0x5b0 [ 38.979755][ C3] usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x385/0x430 [ 38.981266][ C3] dummy_timer+0x140c/0x34e0 [ 38.982925][ C3] ? notifier_call_chain+0xb5/0x1e0 [ 38.984761][ C3] ? rcu_read_lock_sched_held+0xb/0x60 [ 38.986242][ C3] ? lock_release+0x51c/0x790 [ 38.987323][ C3] ? _raw_read_unlock_irqrestore+0x37/0x70 [ 38.988483][ C3] ? __wake_up_common_lock+0xde/0x130 [ 38.989621][ C3] ? reacquire_held_locks+0x4a0/0x4a0 [ 38.990777][ C3] ? lock_acquire+0x472/0x550 [ 38.991919][ C3] ? rcu_read_lock_sched_held+0xb/0x60 [ 38.993138][ C3] ? lock_acquire+0x472/0x550 [ 38.994890][ C3] ? dummy_urb_enqueue+0x860/0x860 [ 38.996266][ C3] ? do_raw_spin_unlock+0x16f/0x230 [ 38.997670][ C3] ? dummy_urb_enqueue+0x860/0x860 [ 38.999116][ C3] call_timer_fn+0x1a0/0x6a0 [ 39.000668][ C3] ? add_timer_on+0x4a0/0x4a0 [ 39.002137][ C3] ? reacquire_held_locks+0x4a0/0x4a0 [ 39.003809][ C3] ? __next_timer_interrupt+0x226/0x2a0 [ 39.005509][ C3] __run_timers.part.0+0x69a/0xac0 [ 39.007025][ C3] ? dummy_urb_enqueue+0x860/0x860 [ 39.008716][ C3] ? call_timer_fn+0x6a0/0x6a0 [ 39.010254][ C3] ? cpuacct_percpu_seq_show+0x10/0x10 [ 39.011795][ C3] ? kvm_sched_clock_read+0x14/0x40 [ 39.013277][ C3] ? sched_clock_cpu+0x69/0x2b0 [ 39.014724][ C3] run_timer_softirq+0xb6/0x1d0 [ 39.016196][ C3] __do_softirq+0x1d2/0x9be [ 39.017616][ C3] __irq_exit_rcu+0xeb/0x190 [ 39.019004][ C3] irq_exit_rcu+0x5/0x20 [ 39.020361][ C3] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x8f/0xb0 [ 39.021965][ C3] </IRQ> [ 39.023237][ C3] <TASK>
In ar5523_probe(), ar5523_host_available() calls ar5523_cmd() as below (there are other functions which finally call ar5523_cmd()):
ar5523_probe() -> ar5523_host_available() -> ar5523_cmd_read() -> ar5523_cmd()
If ar5523_cmd() timed out, then ar5523_host_available() failed and ar5523_probe() freed the device structure. So, ar5523_cmd_tx_cb() might touch the freed structure.
This patch fixes this issue by canceling in-flight tx cmd if submitted urb timed out.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50716?
How do I fix CVE-2022-50716?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2022-50716 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50716 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50716, GHSA-4m5x-vw6p-2w8c, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50716.