NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2022-49942

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: Don't finalize CSA in IBSS mode if state is disconnected When we are not connected to a channel, sending channel "switch" announcement doesn't make any sense. The BSS list is empty in that case. This causes the for loop in cfg80211_get_bss() to be bypassed, so the function returns NULL (check line 1424 of net/wireless/scan.c), causing the WARN_ON() in ieee80211_ibss_csa_beacon() to get triggered (check line 500 of net/mac80211/ibss.c), which was consequently reported on the syzkaller dashboard. Thus, check if we have an existing connection before generating the CSA beacon in ieee80211_ibss_finish_csa().

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (15.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 16th percentile — 15.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2022-49942: held from 0.002 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.003 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions cd7760e62c2ac8581f050b2d36501d1a60beaf83, 3.13, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-49942?
CVE-2022-49942 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-06-18.
How severe is CVE-2022-49942?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.