Linux Kernel up to 6.12.23/6.13.11/6.14.2 wifi ath12k_pci_remove memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.23/6.13.11/6.14.2. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is the function ath12k_pci_remove of the component wifi. The manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-37744. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.23/6.13.11/6.14.2. It has been rated as problematic. This issue affects the function ath12k_pci_remove of the component wifi. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_pci_remove() Kmemleak reported this error: unreferenced object 0xffff1c165cec3060 (size 32): comm "insmod", pid 560, jiffies 4296964570 (age 235.596s) backtrace: [<000000005434db68>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x1f4/0x2c0 [<000000001203b155>] kmalloc_trace+0x40/0x88 [<0000000028adc9c8>] _request_firmware+0xb8/0x608 [<00000000cad1aef7>] firmware_request_nowarn+0x50/0x80 [<000000005011a682>] local_pci_probe+0x48/0xd0 [<00000000077cd295>] pci_device_probe+0xb4/0x200 [<0000000087184c94>] really_probe+0x150/0x2c0 The firmware memory was allocated in ath12k_pci_probe(), but not freed in ath12k_pci_remove() in case ATH12K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL bit is set. So call ath12k_fw_unmap() to free the memory. Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.2.0-02280-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-1

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-37744 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 240657 (Ubuntu 25.04 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7594-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.24, 6.13.12, 6.14.3 or 6.15-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 3cb47b50926a5b9eef8c06506a14cdc0f3d95c53/cb8f4c5f9c487d82a566672b5ed0c9f05e40659b/52e3132e62c31b5ade43dc4495fa81175e6e8398/1b24394ed5c8a8d8f7b9e3aa9044c31495d46f2e is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (240657) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0922). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM DataPower Gateway
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.13.0
• 6.13.1
• 6.13.2
• 6.13.3
• 6.13.4
• 6.13.5
• 6.13.6
• 6.13.7
• 6.13.8
• 6.13.9
• 6.13.10
• 6.13.11
• 6.14.0
• 6.14.1
• 6.14.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

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CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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