CVE-2022-49235: ath9k_htc: fix uninit value bugs

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-02-26 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-908

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ath9k_htc: fix uninit value bugs Syzbot reported 2 KMSAN bugs in ath9k. All of them are caused by missing field initialization. In htc_connect_service() svc_meta_len and pad are not initialized. Based on code it looks like in current skb there is no service data, so simply initialize svc_meta_len to 0. htc_issue_send() does not initialize htc_frame_hdr::control array. Based on firmware code, it will initialize it by itself, so simply zero whole array to make KMSAN happy Fail logs: BUG: KMSAN: kernel-usb-infoleak in usb_submit_urb+0x6c1/0x2aa0 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:430 usb_submit_urb+0x6c1/0x2aa0 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:430 hif_usb_send_regout drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/hif_usb.c:127 [inline] hif_usb_send+0x5f0/0x16f0 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/hif_usb.c:479 htc_issue_send drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:34 [inline] htc_connect_service+0x143e/0x1960 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:275 ... Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slab.h:524 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3251 [inline] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0xe0c/0x1510 mm/slub.c:4974 kmalloc_reserve net/core/skbuff.c:354 [inline] __alloc_skb+0x545/0xf90 net/core/skbuff.c:426 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1126 [inline] htc_connect_service+0x1029/0x1960 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:258 ... Bytes 4-7 of 18 are uninitialized Memory access of size 18 starts at ffff888027377e00 BUG: KMSAN: kernel-usb-infoleak in usb_submit_urb+0x6c1/0x2aa0 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:430 usb_submit_urb+0x6c1/0x2aa0 drivers/usb/core/urb.c:430 hif_usb_send_regout drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/hif_usb.c:127 [inline] hif_usb_send+0x5f0/0x16f0 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/hif_usb.c:479 htc_issue_send drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:34 [inline] htc_connect_service+0x143e/0x1960 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:275 ... Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slab.h:524 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3251 [inline] __kmalloc_node_track_caller+0xe0c/0x1510 mm/slub.c:4974 kmalloc_reserve net/core/skbuff.c:354 [inline] __alloc_skb+0x545/0xf90 net/core/skbuff.c:426 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1126 [inline] htc_connect_service+0x1029/0x1960 drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/htc_hst.c:258 ... Bytes 16-17 of 18 are uninitialized Memory access of size 18 starts at ffff888027377e00

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 2.6.35 before 4.9.311; from 4.10 before 4.14.276; from 4.15 before 4.19.238; from 4.20 before 5.4.189; from 5.5 before 5.10.110; from 5.11 before 5.15.33 — fixed in 4.14.276, 4.19.238, 4.9.311, 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.14.276, 4.19.238, 4.9.311, 5.10.110. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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