# CVE-2022-50735: wifi: mt76: do not run mt76u_status_worker if the device is not running

> A NULL pointer dereference in the mt76 WiFi driver can cause a kernel crash when the status worker runs before the device is fully initialized.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50735, GHSA-5594-v4cp-2cvj, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50735

## What is CVE-2022-50735?

CVE-2022-50735 is a 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: mt76: do not run mt76u_status_worker if the device is not running

Fix the following NULL pointer dereference avoiding to run
mt76u_status_worker thread if the device is not running yet.

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range
[0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 0 PID: 98 Comm: kworker/u2:2 Not tainted 5.14.0+ #78 Hardware
name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS
rel-1.12.1-0-ga5cab58e9a3f-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
Workqueue: mt76 mt76u_tx_status_data
RIP: 0010:mt76x02_mac_fill_tx_status.isra.0+0x82c/0x9e0
Code: c5 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 94 01 00 00
48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 34 24 4c 89 f2 48 c1 ea 03 <0f>
b6
04 02 84 c0 74 08 3c 03 0f 8e 89 01 00 00 41 8b 16 41 0f b7
RSP: 0018:ffffc900005af988 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffc900005afae8 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff832fc661 RDI: ffffc900005afc2a
RBP: ffffc900005afae0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffff520000b5f3c
R10: 0000000000000003 R11: fffff520000b5f3b R12: ffff88810b6132d8
R13: 000000000000ffff R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffc900005afc28
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88811aa00000(0000)
knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007fa0eda6a000 CR3: 0000000118f17000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
 mt76x02_send_tx_status+0x1d2/0xeb0
 mt76x02_tx_status_data+0x8e/0xd0
 mt76u_tx_status_data+0xe1/0x240
 process_one_work+0x92b/0x1460
 worker_thread+0x95/0xe00
 kthread+0x3a1/0x480
 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
Modules linked in:
--[ end trace 8df5d20fc5040f65 ]--
RIP: 0010:mt76x02_mac_fill_tx_status.isra.0+0x82c/0x9e0
Code: c5 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 94 01 00 00
48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 34 24 4c 89 f2 48 c1 ea 03 <0f>
b6
04 02 84 c0 74 08 3c 03 0f 8e 89 01 00 00 41 8b 16 41 0f b7
RSP: 0018:ffffc900005af988 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffc900005afae8 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff832fc661 RDI: ffffc900005afc2a
RBP: ffffc900005afae0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffff520000b5f3c
R10: 0000000000000003 R11: fffff520000b5f3b R12: ffff88810b6132d8
R13: 000000000000ffff R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffc900005afc28
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88811aa00000(0000)
knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007fa0eda6a000 CR3: 0000000118f17000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0
PKRU: 55555554

Moreover move stat_work schedule out of the for loop.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50735?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50735?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50735 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50735 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50735 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50735 is a 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50735 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2022-50735/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50735/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50735
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50735
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50735

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50735/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.