# CVE-2025-39890: wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_service_ready_ext_event

> A memory leak in the ath12k WiFi driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service by exhausting kernel memory.

- **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:** 24 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-39890, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39890, GHSA-5cg2-hfc8-xx57, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39890, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39890

## What is CVE-2025-39890?

CVE-2025-39890 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Sep 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_service_ready_ext_event

Currently, in ath12k_service_ready_ext_event(), svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps
is not freed in the failure case, causing a memory leak. The following
trace is observed in kmemleak:

unreferenced object 0xffff8b3eb5789c00 (size 1024):
 comm "softirq", pid 0, jiffies 4294942577
 hex dump (first 32 bytes):
   00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7b 00 00 10  ............{...
   01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 1f 38 00 00  .............8..
 backtrace (crc 44e1c357):
   __kmalloc_noprof+0x30b/0x410
   ath12k_wmi_mac_phy_caps_parse+0x84/0x100 [ath12k]
   ath12k_wmi_tlv_iter+0x5e/0x140 [ath12k]
   ath12k_wmi_svc_rdy_ext_parse+0x308/0x4c0 [ath12k]
   ath12k_wmi_tlv_iter+0x5e/0x140 [ath12k]
   ath12k_service_ready_ext_event.isra.0+0x44/0xd0 [ath12k]
   ath12k_wmi_op_rx+0x2eb/0xd70 [ath12k]
   ath12k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x1f4/0x330 [ath12k]
   ath12k_ce_recv_process_cb+0x218/0x300 [ath12k]
   ath12k_pci_ce_workqueue+0x1b/0x30 [ath12k]
   process_one_work+0x219/0x680
   bh_worker+0x198/0x1f0
   tasklet_action+0x13/0x30
   handle_softirqs+0xca/0x460
   __irq_exit_rcu+0xbe/0x110
   irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30

Free svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps in the error case to fix this memory leak.

Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39890?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39890?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39890 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39890 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-2025-39890 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39890 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Sep 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-2025-39890 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-2025-39890/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39890/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39890
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39890
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39890

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39890/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.