[Share] Random crashes / kernel faults caused by unused Realtek WiFi drivers (88x2bu & 8812au)
Posted: 13 Apr 2026, 22:56
Device: TerraMaster F4-424
TOS version: TOS 6
Kernel: 6.1.120+
Symptoms:
NAS becoming inaccessible every 24-48h, requiring manual reboot
High CPU load and system freezes
lsblk segfaulting, TOSDaemon unable to list disks
General protection faults accumulating in kern.log
Root cause:
Two out-of-tree Realtek WiFi kernel modules (88x2bu and 8812au) were loaded at boot by TOS via /etc/modules, despite no WiFi hardware being present. These modules were generating 10,000+ general protection faults in the background, corrupting kernel memory and causing random system instability.
The faults were always at the same address (0x2000000000028), pointing to a bad pointer in the WiFi driver code.
Fix:
Are you aware about this @Terramaster_Team ?
TOS version: TOS 6
Kernel: 6.1.120+
Symptoms:
NAS becoming inaccessible every 24-48h, requiring manual reboot
High CPU load and system freezes
lsblk segfaulting, TOSDaemon unable to list disks
General protection faults accumulating in kern.log
Root cause:
Two out-of-tree Realtek WiFi kernel modules (88x2bu and 8812au) were loaded at boot by TOS via /etc/modules, despite no WiFi hardware being present. These modules were generating 10,000+ general protection faults in the background, corrupting kernel memory and causing random system instability.
The faults were always at the same address (0x2000000000028), pointing to a bad pointer in the WiFi driver code.
Fix:
Code: Select all
bash# Blacklist the modules
echo "blacklist 88x2bu" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-wifi.conf
echo "blacklist 8812au" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-wifi.conf
# Unload immediately
modprobe -r 88x2bu
modprobe -r 8812au
# Remove from /etc/modules to prevent loading at boot
sed -i '/^8812au/d' /etc/modules
sed -i '/^88x2bu/d' /etc/modules