CVE-2026-68191

wifi: ath12k: fix NULL pointer dereference in rhash table destroy

State
Published
Severity
Not scored
Published
Aug 10, 2026
Updated
Aug 17, 2026
Reserved
Jul 30, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: ath12k: fix NULL pointer dereference in rhash table destroy

When unbinding the ath12k driver, kernel NULL pointer dereferences occur in irq_work_sync() called from rhashtable_destroy().

Two hash tables are affected: 1. ath12k_link_sta hash table in ath12k_base 2. ath12k_dp_link_peer hash table in ath12k_dp

The issue happens because the destroy functions are called unconditionally in cleanup paths, but the hash tables are only initialized late in their respective init functions. If the device was never fully started or if the init functions failed before initializing the hash tables, the pointers will be NULL. The issues are always reproducible from a VM because the MSI addressing initialization is failing.

Call trace for ath12k_link_sta_rhash_tbl_destroy: RIP: irq_work_sync+0x1e/0x70 rhashtable_destroy+0x12/0x60 ath12k_link_sta_rhash_tbl_destroy+0x19/0x40 [ath12k] ath12k_core_stop+0xe/0x80 [ath12k] ath12k_core_hw_group_cleanup+0x6b/0xb0 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_remove+0x60/0x110 [ath12k]

Call trace for ath12k_dp_link_peer_rhash_tbl_destroy: RIP: irq_work_sync+0x1e/0x70 rhashtable_destroy+0x12/0x60 ath12k_dp_link_peer_rhash_tbl_destroy+0x29/0x50 [ath12k] ath12k_dp_cmn_device_deinit+0x21/0x140 [ath12k] ath12k_core_hw_group_cleanup+0x6b/0xb0 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_remove+0x60/0x110 [ath12k]

Fix this by adding NULL checks before calling rhashtable_destroy() in both destroy functions.

The NULL check approach was chosen because the rhashtable pointer serves as the initialization state indicator. The init can fail at various points, leaving some components uninitialized. Checking the pointer directly is simpler than adding separate state flags that would need synchronization.

Scores

The record has no CVSS score.

Weaknesses

The record names no weakness.

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • 57ccca410237285f8f25a988655e6910cadc63f2 to before 17a4298f7794843af0094035723dc5e7311c7453Affected
  • 57ccca410237285f8f25a988655e6910cadc63f2 to before 70231dcd782201579990ded73e0435d18bb524caAffected
LinuxLinux
  • 7.0Affected
  • before 7.0Not affected
  • 7.1.6 through 7.1.*Not affected
  • 7.2 and laterNot affected

References

Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.