CVE-2022-49290

mac80211: fix potential double free on mesh join

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: February 26, 2025 at 01:56 AM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 09:24 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mac80211: fix potential double free on mesh join While commit 6a01afcf8468 ("mac80211: mesh: Free ie data when leaving mesh") fixed a memory leak on mesh leave / teardown it introduced a potential memory corruption caused by a double free when rejoining the mesh: ieee80211_leave_mesh() -> kfree(sdata->u.mesh.ie); ... ieee80211_join_mesh() -> copy_mesh_setup() -> old_ie = ifmsh->ie; -> kfree(old_ie); This double free / kernel panics can be reproduced by using wpa_supplicant with an encrypted mesh (if set up without encryption via "iw" then ifmsh->ie is always NULL, which avoids this issue). And then calling: $ iw dev mesh0 mesh leave $ iw dev mesh0 mesh join my-mesh Note that typically these commands are not used / working when using wpa_supplicant. And it seems that wpa_supplicant or wpa_cli are going through a NETDEV_DOWN/NETDEV_UP cycle between a mesh leave and mesh join where the NETDEV_UP resets the mesh.ie to NULL via a memcpy of default_mesh_setup in cfg80211_netdev_notifier_call, which then avoids the memory corruption, too. The issue was first observed in an application which was not using wpa_supplicant but "Senf" instead, which implements its own calls to nl80211. Fixing the issue by removing the kfree()'ing of the mesh IE in the mesh join function and leaving it solely up to the mesh leave to free the mesh IE.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v ≥ 4.4.233v ≥ 5.7.134.14.192 ≤ v < 4.14.2744.19.137 ≤ v < 4.19.2374.4.233 ≤ v < 4.54.9.233 ≤ v < 4.9.3095.11 ≤ v < 5.15.325.16 ≤ v < 5.16.185.17 ≤ v < 5.17.15.4.56 ≤ v < 5.4.1885.7.13 ≤ v < 5.10.1095.7.13 ≤ v < 5.85.8 ≤ v < 5.10.1095.8 ≤ v < 5.15.325.8 ≤ v < 5.16.185.8 ≤ v < 5.17.15.8 ≤ v < 5.1812e9cb1e7c93413112260991d094cfda712fdc973212d6248faf0efce6b7a718e198feecce0eea0537bccfa89559a70c044b5ccde3c916a91388e14a3f15e3e62c80e180282f0cbc5559264e11c328b74.14.1924.19.1374.4.2334.9.2334f3193e08602462a806e8f53212e79c60a6f74885.4.565.7.135.86a01afcf8468d3ca2bd8bbb27503f60dcf643b2086e7d4cd2ed5f4b0188afce8199faffcf1ae7c7e
Vendor states this is fixed in 12e407a8ef17623823fd0c066fbd7f103953d28d (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 273ebddc5fda2967492cb0b6cdd7d81cfb821b76 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3bbd0000d012f92aec423b224784fbf0f7bf40f8 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 46bb87d40683337757a2f902fcd4244b32bb4e86 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4a2d4496e15ea5bb5c8e83b94ca8ca7fb045e7d3 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 582d8c60c0c053684f7138875e8150d5749ffc17 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5d3ff9542a40ce034416bca03864709540a36016 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 615716af8644813355e014314a0bc1e961250f5a (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c1d9c3628ef0a0ca197595d0f9e01cd3b5dda186 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.14.274 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.19.237 (unaffected)
Affected range stops below 4.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.9.309 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.109 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.32 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.16.18 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.17.1 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.18 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.188 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.8 (unaffected)

References (9)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12e407a8ef17623823fd0c066fbd7f103953d28d
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/273ebddc5fda2967492cb0b6cdd7d81cfb821b76
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3bbd0000d012f92aec423b224784fbf0f7bf40f8
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/46bb87d40683337757a2f902fcd4244b32bb4e86
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a2d4496e15ea5bb5c8e83b94ca8ca7fb045e7d3
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/582d8c60c0c053684f7138875e8150d5749ffc17
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d3ff9542a40ce034416bca03864709540a36016
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/615716af8644813355e014314a0bc1e961250f5a

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-415

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