Privilege escalation via stale driver-private pointer
Published May 16, 2022 · Updated Aug 3, 2024
Use-after-free in the ath9k_htc Atheros USB wireless driver in Linux kernel 5.18-rc7 allows local users to crash the system. The probe stores priv in htc_handle->drv_priv before target initialization; if initialization fails, it frees hw without clearing that pointer, and an IRQ receive path later dereferences it. Access requires a local low-privileged account and an Atheros ath9k_htc USB adapter; the dangling kernel pointer enables a crash, kernel-memory disclosure, or privilege escalation.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the ath9k_htc Atheros USB wireless driver in Linux kernel 5.18-rc7 allows local users to crash the system. The probe stores priv in htc_handle->drv_priv before target initialization; if initialization fails, it frees hw without clearing that pointer, and an IRQ receive path later dereferences it. Access requires a local low-privileged account and an Atheros ath9k_htc USB adapter; the dangling kernel pointer enables a crash, kernel-memory disclosure, or privilege escalation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-1679
- Published
- May 16, 2022
- Updated
- Aug 3, 2024
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 16, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=Linux kernel 5.18-rc7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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