wifi: rtw89: fix use-after-free in rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait()
CVE: CVE-2025-40000
Component: kernel
CWE: CWE-825
Severity: Moderate
CVSS v3: 6.3/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
Release date: 2025-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

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

wifi: rtw89: fix use-after-free in rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait()

There is a bug observed when rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait() tries to
access already freed skb_data:

 BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free write in rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:1110

 CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 41377 Comm: kworker/u64:24 Not tainted  6.17.0-rc1+ #1 PREEMPT(lazy)
 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS edk2-20250523-14.fc42 05/23/2025
 Workqueue: events_unbound cfg80211_wiphy_work [cfg80211]

 Use-after-free write at 0x0000000020309d9d (in kfence-#251):
 rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:1110
 rtw89_core_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:5338
 rtw89_hw_scan_complete_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:7979
 rtw89_chanctx_proceed_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3165
 rtw89_chanctx_proceed drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.h:141
 rtw89_hw_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:8012
 rtw89_mac_c2h_scanofld_rsp drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/mac.c:5059
 rtw89_fw_c2h_work drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:6758
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3241
 worker_thread kernel/workqueue.c:3400
 kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
 ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
 ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258

 kfence-#251: 0x0000000056e2393d-0x000000009943cb62, size=232, cache=skbuff_head_cache

 allocated by task 41377 on cpu 6 at 77869.159548s (0.009551s ago):
 __alloc_skb net/core/skbuff.c:659
 __netdev_alloc_skb net/core/skbuff.c:734
 ieee80211_nullfunc_get net/mac80211/tx.c:5844
 rtw89_core_send_nullfunc drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:3431
 rtw89_core_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/core.c:5338
 rtw89_hw_scan_complete_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:7979
 rtw89_chanctx_proceed_cb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3165
 rtw89_chanctx_proceed drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/chan.c:3194
 rtw89_hw_scan_complete drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:8012
 rtw89_mac_c2h_scanofld_rsp drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/mac.c:5059
 rtw89_fw_c2h_work drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/fw.c:6758
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3241
 worker_thread kernel/workqueue.c:3400
 kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
 ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
 ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258

 freed by task 1045 on cpu 9 at 77869.168393s (0.001557s ago):
 ieee80211_tx_status_skb net/mac80211/status.c:1117
 rtw89_pci_release_txwd_skb drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:564
 rtw89_pci_release_tx_skbs.isra.0 drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:651
 rtw89_pci_release_tx drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:676
 rtw89_pci_napi_poll drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:4238
 __napi_poll net/core/dev.c:7495
 net_rx_action net/core/dev.c:7557 net/core/dev.c:7684
 handle_softirqs kernel/softirq.c:580
 do_softirq.part.0 kernel/softirq.c:480
 __local_bh_enable_ip kernel/softirq.c:407
 rtw89_pci_interrupt_threadfn drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c:927
 irq_thread_fn kernel/irq/manage.c:1133
 irq_thread kernel/irq/manage.c:1257
 kthread kernel/kthread.c:463
 ret_from_fork arch/x86/kernel/process.c:154
 ret_from_fork_asm arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:258

It is a consequence of a race between the waiting and the signaling side
of the completion:

            Waiting thread                            Completing thread

rtw89_core_tx_kick_off_and_wait()
  rcu_assign_pointer(skb_data->wait, wait)
  /* start waiting */
  wait_for_completion_timeout()
                                                rtw89_pci_tx_status()
                                                  rtw89_core_tx_wait_complete()
                                                    rcu_read_lock()
                                                    /* signals completion and
   
---truncated---


Remediation: