CVE-2023-53764 wifi: ath12k: Handle lock during peer_id find
A missing lock in the ath12k WiFi driver can cause a kernel warning and potential system instability when processing WBM errors.
- 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-2023-53764?
CVE-2023-53764 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 8 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: ath12k: Handle lock during peer_id find
ath12k_peer_find_by_id() requires that the caller hold the ab->base_lock. Currently the WBM error path does not hold the lock and calling that function, leads to the following lockdep_assert()in QCN9274:
[105162.160893] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [105162.160916] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 0 at drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/peer.c:71 ath12k_peer_find_by_id+0x52/0x60 [ath12k] [105162.160933] Modules linked in: ath12k(O) qrtr_mhi qrtr mac80211 cfg80211 mhi qmi_helpers libarc4 nvme nvme_core [last unloaded: ath12k(O)] [105162.160967] CPU: 3 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/3 Tainted: G W O 6.1.0-rc2+ #3 [105162.160972] Hardware name: Intel(R) Client Systems NUC8i7HVK/NUC8i7HVB, BIOS HNKBLi70.86A.0056.2019.0506.1527 05/06/2019 [105162.160977] RIP: 0010:ath12k_peer_find_by_id+0x52/0x60 [ath12k] [105162.160990] Code: 07 eb 0f 39 68 24 74 0a 48 8b 00 48 39 f8 75 f3 31 c0 5b 5d c3 48 8d bf b0 f2 00 00 be ff ff ff ff e8 22 20 c4 e2 85 c0 75 bf <0f> 0b eb bb 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 41 54 4c 8d a7 98 f2 00 [105162.160996] RSP: 0018:ffffa223001acc60 EFLAGS: 00010246 [105162.161003] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9f0573940000 RCX: 0000000000000000 [105162.161008] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: ffffffffa3951c8e RDI: ffffffffa39a96d7 [105162.161013] RBP: 000000000000000a R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [105162.161017] R10: ffffa223001acb40 R11: ffffffffa3d57c60 R12: ffff9f057394f2e0 [105162.161022] R13: ffff9f0573940000 R14: ffff9f04ecd659c0 R15: ffff9f04d5a9b040 [105162.161026] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9f0575600000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [105162.161031] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [105162.161036] CR2: 00001d5c8277a008 CR3: 00000001e6224006 CR4: 00000000003706e0 [105162.161041] Call Trace: [105162.161046] <IRQ> [105162.161051] ath12k_dp_rx_process_wbm_err+0x6da/0xaf0 [ath12k] [105162.161072] ? ath12k_dp_rx_process_err+0x80e/0x15a0 [ath12k] [105162.161084] ? __lock_acquire+0x4ca/0x1a60 [105162.161104] ath12k_dp_service_srng+0x263/0x310 [ath12k] [105162.161120] ath12k_pci_ext_grp_napi_poll+0x1c/0x70 [ath12k] [105162.161133] __napi_poll+0x22/0x260 [105162.161141] net_rx_action+0x2f8/0x380 [105162.161153] __do_softirq+0xd0/0x4c9 [105162.161162] irq_exit_rcu+0x88/0xe0 [105162.161169] common_interrupt+0xa5/0xc0 [105162.161174] </IRQ> [105162.161179] <TASK> [105162.161184] asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40
Handle spin lock/unlock in WBM error path to hold the necessary lock expected by ath12k_peer_find_by_id().
Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.0-03171-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53764?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53764?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53764 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53764 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53764, GHSA-qjv9-pc7w-9xrj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2023-53764, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53764, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53764.