CVE-2022-48784: cfg80211: fix race in netlink owner interface destruction

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.7 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-07-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-362

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cfg80211: fix race in netlink owner interface destruction My previous fix here to fix the deadlock left a race where the exact same deadlock (see the original commit referenced below) can still happen if cfg80211_destroy_ifaces() already runs while nl80211_netlink_notify() is still marking some interfaces as nl_owner_dead. The race happens because we have two loops here - first we dev_close() all the netdevs, and then we destroy them. If we also have two netdevs (first one need only be a wdev though) then we can find one during the first iteration, close it, and go to the second iteration -- but then find two, and try to destroy also the one we didn't close yet. Fix this by only iterating once.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.12.1 before 5.15.25; from 5.16 before 5.16.11; 5.17-rc1, 5.17-rc2, 5.17-rc3, 5.17-rc4 — fixed in 5.15.25, 5.16.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.25, 5.16.11. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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