high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2023-52769·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: fix htt mlo-offset event locking The ath12k active pdevs are protected by RCU but the htt mlo-offset event handling code calling ath12k_mac_get_ar_by_pdev_id() was not marked as a read-side critical section. Mark the code in question as an RCU read-side critical section to avoid any potential use-after-free issues. Compile tested only.

Severity: high
Software: Kernel
Fixed in: 6.6.3
Published: 2024-05-21

Affected versions

From: 6.6

Until: 6.6.3

Fixed in: 6.6.3

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.6.3 or later to resolve this race condition vulnerability in the ath12k WiFi driver's MLO offset event handler. The vulnerability occurs when RCU-protected active pdevs are accessed without proper read-side critical section locking, creating potential use-after-free conditions. Apply the kernel update through your distribution's package manager and reboot to activate the patched version.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

Run 'uname -r' to check your current kernel version; versions 6.6 through 6.6.2 are vulnerable
Verify ath12k WiFi driver is loaded with 'lsmod | grep ath12k' to confirm the vulnerable component is active
Monitor kernel logs with 'journalctl -k -f' or 'dmesg | tail -50' for NULL pointer dereference or use-after-free errors related to ath12k
After applying the update, confirm the new version with 'uname -r' and verify it shows 6.6.3 or later

FAQ

What is CVE-2023-52769?

CVE-2023-52769 is a synchronization bug in the Linux kernel's ath12k WiFi driver where MLO offset event handlers access RCU-protected device structures without proper locking, risking use-after-free memory corruption and potential kernel crashes or privilege escalation.

Is CVE-2023-52769 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are currently available. However, the high CVSS score (7.8) warrants timely patching.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2023-52769?

Linux kernel versions 6.6 through 6.6.2 are vulnerable. Kernel 6.6.3 and later contain the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2023-52769?

Run 'uname -r' and check if the output shows a version between 6.6 and 6.6.2; additionally verify ath12k is active with 'lsmod | grep ath12k' since the vulnerability only affects systems with this WiFi driver loaded.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2023-52769?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If the Linux kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2023-52769 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.

CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.

CVE-2024-39462CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: clk: bcm: dvp: Assign ->num before accessing ->hws Commit f316cdff8d67 ("clk: Annotate struct clk_hw_onecell_data with __counted_by") annotated the hws member of 'struct clk_hw_onecell_data' with __counted_by, which informs the bounds sanitizer about the number of elements in hws, so that it can warn when hws is accessed out of bounds. As noted in that change, the __counted_by member must be initialized with the number of elements before the first array access happens, otherwise there will be a warning from each access prior to the initialization because the number of elements is zero. This occurs in clk_dvp_probe() due to ->num being assigned after ->hws has been accessed: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in drivers/clk/bcm/clk-bcm2711-dvp.c:59:2 index 0 is out of range for type 'struct clk_hw *[] __counted_by(num)' (aka 'struct clk_hw *[]') Move the ->num initialization to before the first access of ->hws, which clears up the warning.

CVE-2024-38541CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of: module: add buffer overflow check in of_modalias() In of_modalias(), if the buffer happens to be too small even for the 1st snprintf() call, the len parameter will become negative and str parameter (if not NULL initially) will point beyond the buffer's end. Add the buffer overflow check after the 1st snprintf() call and fix such check after the strlen() call (accounting for the terminating NUL char).

CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

Track CVEs across your fleet automatically

Defensia scans your Linux servers and tells you exactly which ones are running vulnerable versions — including CVE-2023-52769. Free for 1 server.

Get started free