Kernel crash via freed USB device pointer
Published May 1, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux at76c50x USB Wi-Fi driver allows local users to crash the kernel when an affected adapter disconnects. In at76_disconnect, at76_delete_device frees priv through ieee80211_free_hw, after which usb_put_dev dereferences priv->udev. Reachability requires local access and an at76c50x USB adapter using the driver; the freed-pointer access can crash the kernel or leak a USB-device reference.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux at76c50x USB Wi-Fi driver allows local users to crash the kernel when an affected adapter disconnects. In at76_disconnect, at76_delete_device frees priv through ieee80211_free_hw, after which usb_put_dev dereferences priv->udev. Reachability requires local access and an at76c50x USB adapter using the driver; the freed-pointer access can crash the kernel or leak a USB-device reference.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37796
- Published
- May 1, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <152721cbae42713ecfbca6847e0f102ee6b19546
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <27c7e63b3cb1a20bb78ed4a36c561ea4579fd7da
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <3c619aec1f538333b56746d2f796aab1bca5c9a5
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <5e7df74745700f059dc117a620e566964a2e8f2c
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <6e4ab3e574c2a335b40fa1f70d1c54fcb58ab33f
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <7ca513631fa6ad3011b8b9197cdde0f351103704
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <a9682bfef2cf3802515a902e964d774e137be1b9
- Affected versionversion=29e20aa6c6aff35c81d4da2e2cd516dadb569061 <c731cdfddcf1be1590d5ba8c9b508f98e3a2b3d6
- Affected versionversion=3.17
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
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Public exploit references
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