Service interruption via ath12k error-path memory leak
Published Sep 24, 2025 · Updated Sep 24, 2025
Memory leak in the ath12k Wi-Fi driver in Linux allows local users to consume kernel memory through a service-ready failure. ath12k_service_ready_ext_event loses the allocated svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps buffer when parsing fails, leaving 1,024 bytes unreachable per failed event. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and relevant ath12k hardware that reaches the failure path, with impact limited to availability.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in the ath12k Wi-Fi driver in Linux allows local users to consume kernel memory through a service-ready failure. ath12k_service_ready_ext_event loses the allocated svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps buffer when parsing fails, leaving 1,024 bytes unreachable per failed event. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and relevant ath12k hardware that reaches the failure path, with impact limited to availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-39890
- Published
- Sep 24, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2025Record 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=6.3
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <1089f65b2de78c7837ef6b4f26146a5a5b0b9749
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <3a392f874ac83a77ad0e53eb8aafdbeb787c9298
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <89142d34d5602c7447827beb181fa06eb08b9d5c
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <99dbad1b01d3b2f361a9db55c1af1212be497a3d
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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