# CVE-2024-57992: wifi: wilc1000: unregister wiphy only if it has been registered

> A null pointer dereference in the wilc1000 WiFi driver causes a kernel panic during device probe failure, leading to 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-2024-57992, GHSA-f95q-j6q7-73v7, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-57992

## What is CVE-2024-57992?

CVE-2024-57992 is a medium-severity 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: wilc1000: unregister wiphy only if it has been registered

There is a specific error path in probe functions in wilc drivers (both
sdio and spi) which can lead to kernel panic, as this one for example
when using SPI:

Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 9f000000 when read
[9f000000] *pgd=00000000
Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] ARM
Modules linked in: wilc1000_spi(+) crc_itu_t crc7 wilc1000 cfg80211 bluetooth ecdh_generic ecc
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 106 Comm: modprobe Not tainted 6.13.0-rc3+ #22
Hardware name: Atmel SAMA5
PC is at wiphy_unregister+0x244/0xc40 [cfg80211]
LR is at wiphy_unregister+0x1c0/0xc40 [cfg80211]
[...]
 wiphy_unregister [cfg80211] from wilc_netdev_cleanup+0x380/0x494 [wilc1000]
 wilc_netdev_cleanup [wilc1000] from wilc_bus_probe+0x360/0x834 [wilc1000_spi]
 wilc_bus_probe [wilc1000_spi] from spi_probe+0x15c/0x1d4
 spi_probe from really_probe+0x270/0xb2c
 really_probe from __driver_probe_device+0x1dc/0x4e8
 __driver_probe_device from driver_probe_device+0x5c/0x140
 driver_probe_device from __driver_attach+0x220/0x540
 __driver_attach from bus_for_each_dev+0x13c/0x1a8
 bus_for_each_dev from bus_add_driver+0x2a0/0x6a4
 bus_add_driver from driver_register+0x27c/0x51c
 driver_register from do_one_initcall+0xf8/0x564
 do_one_initcall from do_init_module+0x2e4/0x82c
 do_init_module from load_module+0x59a0/0x70c4
 load_module from init_module_from_file+0x100/0x148
 init_module_from_file from sys_finit_module+0x2fc/0x924
 sys_finit_module from ret_fast_syscall+0x0/0x1c

The issue can easily be reproduced, for example by not wiring correctly
a wilc device through SPI (and so, make it unresponsive to early SPI
commands). It is due to a recent change decoupling wiphy allocation from
wiphy registration, however wilc_netdev_cleanup has not been updated
accordingly, letting it possibly call wiphy unregister on a wiphy which
has never been registered.

Fix this crash by moving wiphy_unregister/wiphy_free out of
wilc_netdev_cleanup, and by adjusting error paths in both drivers

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-57992?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-57992?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-57992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-57992 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-2024-57992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-57992 is a medium-severity 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-2024-57992 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-2024-57992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-57992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-57992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-57992

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.