CVE-2022-50735: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2022-50735 is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the Linux kernel's mt76 Wi-Fi driver, specifically in the mt76u_status_worker thread. The flaw occurs when the worker thread runs before the device has fully initialized, leading to a kernel crash. It was published on December 24, 2025, and affects the Linux kernel (vendor: linux, product: kernel). The CVSS category is estimated as Medium, with an EPSS score of 0.000180 (Feedly, VulDB).

The root cause is a NULL pointer dereference (CWE-476) in the mt76x02_mac_fill_tx_status function within the Linux kernel's mt76 USB Wi-Fi driver. The mt76u_status_worker thread, which processes TX status data via the mt76u_tx_status_data workqueue, can be scheduled and executed before the underlying device is in a running state, causing it to dereference a NULL pointer. The KASAN report shows the fault occurring at address range 0x0000000000000000–0x0000000000000007 in mt76x02_mac_fill_tx_status.isra.0+0x82c/0x9e0. The fix adds a guard condition to prevent mt76u_status_worker from running if the device is not yet running (Feedly).

Exploitation of this vulnerability causes a kernel NULL pointer dereference, resulting in a system crash (kernel panic) and denial of service on affected Linux systems using mt76-based USB Wi-Fi adapters. There is no evidence of confidentiality or integrity impact; the primary consequence is availability loss. The vulnerability is local in nature and requires the ability to trigger the relevant device initialization race condition (Feedly).

The fix has been backported to stable Linux kernel branches via commits to the kernel stable tree (e.g., commits 58fdd84a89b1, 69346de0eb95, bd5dac7ced5a, and f5ac749a0b21). Users should update to a patched kernel version that includes these fixes. SUSE has issued advisories (SUSE-2026-0263-1, SUSE-2026-0317-1, SUSE-2026-0411-1) addressing this vulnerability in their kernel packages (Linux Security SUSE, Feedly). As a workaround, avoiding the use of affected mt76-based USB Wi-Fi adapters on unpatched kernels can reduce exposure.