CVE-2025-39890: wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_service_ready_ext_event

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-39890 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 24-09-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_service_ready_ext_event Currently, in ath12k_service_ready_ext_event(), svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps is not freed in the failure case, causing a memory leak. The following trace is observed in kmemleak: unreferenced object 0xffff8b3eb5789c00 (size 1024): comm "softirq", pid 0, jiffies 4294942577 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7b 00 00 10 ............{... 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 1f 38 00 00 .............8.. backtrace (crc 44e1c357): __kmalloc_noprof+0x30b/0x410 ath12k_wmi_mac_phy_caps_parse+0x84/0x100 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_tlv_iter+0x5e/0x140 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_svc_rdy_ext_parse+0x308/0x4c0 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_tlv_iter+0x5e/0x140 [ath12k] ath12k_service_ready_ext_event.isra.0+0x44/0xd0 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_op_rx+0x2eb/0xd70 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x1f4/0x330 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_recv_process_cb+0x218/0x300 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_ce_workqueue+0x1b/0x30 [ath12k] process_one_work+0x219/0x680 bh_worker+0x198/0x1f0 tasklet_action+0x13/0x30 handle_softirqs+0xca/0x460 __irq_exit_rcu+0xbe/0x110 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 Free svc_rdy_ext.mac_phy_caps in the error case to fix this memory leak. Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

• CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective LifetimeThe product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.