Linux Kernel up to 6.0.8 ieee80211_subif_start_xmit null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.0.8. It has been classified as critical. The affected element is the function ieee80211_subif_start_xmit. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2022-49876. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.0.8. This issue affects the function ieee80211_subif_start_xmit. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: fix general-protection-fault in ieee80211_subif_start_xmit() When device is running and the interface status is changed, the gpf issue is triggered. The problem triggering process is as follows: Thread A: Thread B ieee80211_runtime_change_iftype() process_one_work() ... ... ieee80211_do_stop() ... ... ... sdata->bss = NULL ... ... ieee80211_subif_start_xmit() ieee80211_multicast_to_unicast //!sdata->bss->multicast_to_unicast cause gpf issue When the interface status is changed, the sending queue continues to send packets. After the bss is set to NULL, the bss is accessed. As a result, this causes a general-protection-fault issue. The following is the stack information: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc000000002f: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000178-0x000000000000017f] Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work RIP: 0010:ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x25b/0x1310 Call Trace: dev_hard_start_xmit+0x1be/0x990 __dev_queue_xmit+0x2c9a/0x3b60 ip6_finish_output2+0xf92/0x1520 ip6_finish_output+0x6af/0x11e0 ip6_output+0x1ed/0x540 mld_sendpack+0xa09/0xe70 mld_ifc_work+0x71c/0xdb0 process_one_work+0x9bf/0x1710 worker_thread+0x665/0x1080 kthread+0x2e4/0x3a0 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-49876 since 05/01/2025. 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 250145 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-49876), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.0.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 03eb68c72cee249aeb7af7d04a83c033aca3d6d9/780854186946e0de2be192ee7fa5125666533b3a 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 (250145) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0922). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source 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

• 6.0.0
• 6.0.1
• 6.0.2
• 6.0.3
• 6.0.4
• 6.0.5
• 6.0.6
• 6.0.7
• 6.0.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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