CVE-2022-50279
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-09-15

Last updated on: 2025-12-03

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtlwifi: Fix global-out-of-bounds bug in _rtl8812ae_phy_set_txpower_limit() There is a global-out-of-bounds reported by KASAN: BUG: KASAN: global-out-of-bounds in _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte.part.0+0x3d/0x84 [rtl8821ae] Read of size 1 at addr ffffffffa0773c43 by task NetworkManager/411 CPU: 6 PID: 411 Comm: NetworkManager Tainted: G D 6.1.0-rc8+ #144 e15588508517267d37 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), Call Trace: <TASK> ... kasan_report+0xbb/0x1c0 _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte.part.0+0x3d/0x84 [rtl8821ae] rtl8821ae_phy_bb_config.cold+0x346/0x641 [rtl8821ae] rtl8821ae_hw_init+0x1f5e/0x79b0 [rtl8821ae] ... </TASK> The root cause of the problem is that the comparison order of "prate_section" in _rtl8812ae_phy_set_txpower_limit() is wrong. The _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte() is used to compare the first n bytes of the two strings from tail to head, which causes the problem. In the _rtl8812ae_phy_set_txpower_limit(), it was originally intended to meet this requirement by carefully designing the comparison order. For example, "pregulation" and "pbandwidth" are compared in order of length from small to large, first is 3 and last is 4. However, the comparison order of "prate_section" dose not obey such order requirement, therefore when "prate_section" is "HT", when comparing from tail to head, it will lead to access out of bounds in _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte(). As mentioned above, the _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte() has the same function as strcmp(), so just strcmp() is enough. Fix it by removing _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte() and use strcmp() barely. Although it can be fixed by adjusting the comparison order of "prate_section", this may cause the value of "rate_section" to not be from 0 to 5. In addition, commit "21e4b0726dc6" not only moved driver from staging to regular tree, but also added setting txpower limit function during the driver config phase, so the problem was introduced by this commit.
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Meta Information
Published
2025-09-15
Last Modified
2025-12-03
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-09-15
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2022-50279
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 6 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel From 3.18 (inc) to 4.19.276 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 4.20 (inc) to 5.4.235 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.5 (inc) to 5.10.173 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.11 (inc) to 5.15.99 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.16 (inc) to 6.1.16 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.2 (inc) to 6.2.3 (exc)
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-125 The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability is a global out-of-bounds memory access bug in the Linux kernel's rtlwifi driver, specifically in the _rtl8812ae_phy_set_txpower_limit() function. The issue arises because the function _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte(), which compares strings from tail to head, is used incorrectly with the 'prate_section' string. This causes the function to read memory outside the intended bounds, leading to a potential crash or undefined behavior. The fix involved replacing the custom comparison function with the standard strcmp() to prevent out-of-bounds access.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to access memory out of bounds, which may lead to system instability, crashes, or potential security risks such as information leakage or privilege escalation if exploited. Since it occurs in the wireless driver, it could affect network functionality or be triggered by network-related operations.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

The vulnerability is fixed by updating the Linux kernel to a version that includes the patch which replaces the vulnerable _rtl8812ae_eq_n_byte() function with strcmp() in the rtlwifi driver. Therefore, the immediate mitigation step is to update your Linux kernel to a version that contains this fix.


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