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CVE-2025-37743
wifi: ath12k: Avoid memory leak while enabling statistics
Published 2025-05-01 (18 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2025-37743 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | not affected | 6.1.190-1 | Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 13trixie | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 6.16.3-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.16.3-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 6.16.3-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.16.3-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Driver uses monitor destination rings for extended statistics mode and standalone monitor mode. In extended statistics mode, TLVs are parsed from the buffer received from the monitor destination ring and assigned to the ppdu_info structure to update per-packet statistics. In standalone monitor mode, along with per-packet statistics, the packet data (payload) is captured, and the driver updates per MSDU to mac80211. When the AP interface is enabled, only extended statistics mode is activated. As part of enabling monitor rings for collecting statistics, the driver subscribes to HAL_RX_MPDU_START TLV in the filter configuration. This TLV is received from the monitor destination ring, and kzalloc for the mon_mpdu object occurs, which is not freed, leading to a memory leak. The kzalloc for the mon_mpdu object is only required while enabling the standalone monitor interface. This causes a memory leak while enabling extended statistics mode in the driver. Fix this memory leak by removing the kzalloc for the mon_mpdu object in the HAL_RX_MPDU_START TLV handling. Additionally, remove the standalone monitor mode handlings in the HAL_MON_BUF_ADDR and HAL_RX_MSDU_END TLVs. These TLV tags will be handled properly when enabling standalone monitor mode in the future. Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.3.1-00173-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1 Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.0.c5-00481-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/dp_mon.c
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/hal_rx.h
- What this is
- QUALCOMM ATH12K WIRELESS DRIVERMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/ · linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org · Supported
- Kernel module
- ath12k
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ATH12K|CONFIG_WLAN|CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_ATH' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w ath12kPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed. The build rule could not be established for 1 release, so nothing is claimed about those.
- bookworm?
- trixieMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, armel/rpi, s390x/s390x
- forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, s390x/s390x
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ATH12K, CONFIG_WLAN, CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_ATH
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2025-05-01 (18 months ago)source
- CVSS
- no vector published, unrated
- Attack vector
- not published
- EPSS
- 0.16%, higher than 4.7% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.3 | 6.14.3 | 286bab0fc7b9 |
| 6.3 | 6.15 | ecfc13138992 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2025-37743, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.