Kernel crash via unguarded DPK result division
Published Jun 18, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Division by zero in the rtw89 8852A Wi-Fi driver in Linux 5.16 allows local users to crash the kernel during station setup. The DPK result-reporting path uses a negative calibration result as a divisor, allowing the computed divisor to become zero instead of guarding the division. Reaching the fault requires local low-privileged initiation of Wi-Fi authentication on a system using the affected Realtek 8852A driver, and the result is a kernel core dump and service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Division by zero in the rtw89 8852A Wi-Fi driver in Linux 5.16 allows local users to crash the kernel during station setup. The DPK result-reporting path uses a negative calibration result as a divisor, allowing the computed divisor to become zero instead of guarding the division. Reaching the fault requires local low-privileged initiation of Wi-Fi authentication on a system using the affected Realtek 8852A driver, and the result is a kernel core dump and service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-50178
- Published
- Jun 18, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=5.16
- Affected versionversion=e3ec7017f6a20d12ddd9fe23d345ebb7b8c104dd <065e83ac83c0c0e615b96947145c85c4bd76c09a
- Affected versionversion=e3ec7017f6a20d12ddd9fe23d345ebb7b8c104dd <5abc81a138f873ab55223ec674afc3a3f945d60f
- Affected versionversion=e3ec7017f6a20d12ddd9fe23d345ebb7b8c104dd <683a4647a7a3044868cfdc14c117525091b9fa0c
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
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