# CVE-2026-63822: wifi: ath11k: fix warning when unbinding

> A double-free vulnerability in the ath11k Wi-Fi driver can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service when unbinding the device after a firmware initialization error.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-63822, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-63822, GHSA-783h-g799-4r2q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-63822, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-63822, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-63822

## What is CVE-2026-63822?

CVE-2026-63822 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 19 Jul 2026. 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: ath11k: fix warning when unbinding

If there is an error during some initialization related to firmware,
the buffers dp->tx_ring[i].tx_status are released.
However this is released again when the device is unbinded (ath11k_pci),
and we get:
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 6231 at mm/slub.c:4368 free_large_kmalloc+0x57/0x90
Call Trace:
free_large_kmalloc
ath11k_dp_free
ath11k_core_deinit
ath11k_pci_remove
...

The issue is always reproducible from a VM because the MSI addressing
initialization is failing.

In order to fix the issue, just set the buffers to NULL after releasing in
order to avoid the double free.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-63822?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-63822?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-63822 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-63822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-63822 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-63822 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 19 Jul 2026. 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-2026-63822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-63822/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-63822/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-63822
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-63822
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-63822

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-63822/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.