CVE-2022-50881

System crash via ath9k USB teardown use-after-free

Published Dec 30, 2025 · Updated Dec 30, 2025

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel ath9k USB driver allows local users to crash affected systems during device disconnection. ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect calls ath9k_destroy_wmi after ath9k_htc_hw_deinit has freed drv_priv through ieee80211_free_hw, causing stale memory access. Reachability requires the ath9k HTC USB disconnect path; published impact evidence establishes service interruption, not code execution.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel ath9k USB driver allows local users to crash affected systems during device disconnection. ath9k_hif_usb_disconnect calls ath9k_destroy_wmi after ath9k_htc_hw_deinit has freed drv_priv through ieee80211_free_hw, causing stale memory access. Reachability requires the ath9k HTC USB disconnect path; published impact evidence establishes service interruption, not code execution.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-50881
Published
Dec 30, 2025
Updated
Dec 30, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-416, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 30, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 30, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <1f137c634a8c8faba648574f687805641e62f92e
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <634a5471a6bd774c0d0fa448dfa6ec593e899ec9
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <99ff971b62e5bd5dee65bbe9777375206f5db791
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <de15e8bbd9eb26fe94a06d0ec7be82dc490eb729
  5. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <f099c5c9e2ba08a379bd354a82e05ef839ae29ac

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <1f137c634a8c8faba648574f687805641e62f92e; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <634a5471a6bd774c0d0fa448dfa6ec593e899ec9; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <99ff971b62e5bd5dee65bbe9777375206f5db791; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <de15e8bbd9eb26fe94a06d0ec7be82dc490eb729; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <f099c5c9e2ba08a379bd354a82e05ef839ae29ac

Published CVSS scores

5.5SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.0Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-416Use After Free
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo