Local system crash via mismatched DMA pointer
Published Feb 14, 2026 · Updated Feb 14, 2026
Invalid DMA pointer release in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to crash systems through the ath12k Wi-Fi driver. The ath12k cleanup path passes aligned buffer addresses to dma_free_coherent instead of the original addresses saved during allocation. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an active ath12k device; the documented impact is a kernel crash without data disclosure.
Summary
What happened
Invalid DMA pointer release in affected Linux Kernel releases allows local users to crash systems through the ath12k Wi-Fi driver. The ath12k cleanup path passes aligned buffer addresses to dma_free_coherent instead of the original addresses saved during allocation. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an active ath12k device; the documented impact is a kernel crash without data disclosure.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-23135
- Published
- Feb 14, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 14, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 14, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=6.3
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <24585a13c41ea7253ee59aac74441fb570f5824a
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <36e0bc5e8b282564906fca636c4ebc99814de4e7
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <4846b32be324f4dd3653f38a3f69c049543d52ae
- Affected versionversion=d889913205cf7ebda905b1e62c5867ed4e39f6c2 <bb97131fbf9b708dd9616ac2bdc793ad102b5c48
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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