# CVE-2024-57991: wifi: rtw89: chan: fix soft lockup in rtw89_entity_recalc_mgnt_roles()

> A logic error in the rtw89 WiFi driver causes a soft lockup, leading to system denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 27 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-57991, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-57991, GHSA-hqg6-v6r3-whgh, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-57991

## What is CVE-2024-57991?

CVE-2024-57991 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

wifi: rtw89: chan: fix soft lockup in rtw89_entity_recalc_mgnt_roles()

During rtw89_entity_recalc_mgnt_roles(), there is a normalizing process
which will re-order the list if an entry with target pattern is found.
And once one is found, should have aborted the list_for_each_entry. But,
`break` just aborted the inner for-loop. The outer list_for_each_entry
still continues. Normally, only the first entry will match the target
pattern, and the re-ordering will change nothing, so there won't be
soft lockup. However, in some special cases, soft lockup would happen.

Fix it by `goto fill` to break from the list_for_each_entry.

The following is a sample of kernel log for this problem.

watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#1 stuck for 26s! [wpa_supplicant:2055]
[...]
RIP: 0010:rtw89_entity_recalc ([...] chan.c:392 chan.c:479) rtw89_core
[...]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-57991?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-57991?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-57991 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-57991 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-2024-57991 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-57991 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 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-2024-57991 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-2024-57991/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57991/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-57991
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-57991
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-57991

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57991/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.