# CVE-2025-37744: wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_pci_remove()

> A memory leak in the ath12k WiFi driver can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service when the device is removed after a QMI failure.

- **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:** 1 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-37744, GHSA-xffq-295c-gmg5, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-37744, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-37744, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37744

## What is CVE-2025-37744?

CVE-2025-37744 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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: fix memory leak in ath12k_pci_remove()

Kmemleak reported this error:

  unreferenced object 0xffff1c165cec3060 (size 32):
    comm "insmod", pid 560, jiffies 4296964570 (age 235.596s)
    backtrace:
      [<000000005434db68>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x1f4/0x2c0
      [<000000001203b155>] kmalloc_trace+0x40/0x88
      [<0000000028adc9c8>] _request_firmware+0xb8/0x608
      [<00000000cad1aef7>] firmware_request_nowarn+0x50/0x80
      [<000000005011a682>] local_pci_probe+0x48/0xd0
      [<00000000077cd295>] pci_device_probe+0xb4/0x200
      [<0000000087184c94>] really_probe+0x150/0x2c0

The firmware memory was allocated in ath12k_pci_probe(), but not
freed in ath12k_pci_remove() in case ATH12K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL bit is
set. So call ath12k_fw_unmap() to free the memory.

Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.2.0-02280-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-1

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37744?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-37744?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-37744 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37744 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-2025-37744 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-37744 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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-2025-37744 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-2025-37744/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37744/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-37744
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-37744
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-37744

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37744/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.