What is CVE-2025-38450?

CVE-2025-38450 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476), affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.11 onward and patched in 6.12.39, 6.15.7 and 6.16. CVE-2025-38450 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38450?

CVE-2025-38450 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-38450?

Yes, CVE-2025-38450 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.39, 6.15.7 and 6.16. If you are running Linux kernel 6.11 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2025-38450 actively exploited?

CVE-2025-38450 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476.html

CVE-2025-38450

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mt76: mt7925: prevent NULL pointer dereference in mt7925_sta_set_decap_offload() Add a NULL check for msta->vif before accessing its members to prevent a kernel panic in AP mode deployment. This also fix the issue reported in [1]. The crash occurs when this function is triggered before the station is fully initialized. The call trace shows a page fault at mt7925_sta_set_decap_offload() due to accessing resources when msta->vif is NULL. Fix this by adding an early return if msta->vif is NULL and also check wcid.sta is ready. This ensures we only proceed with decap offload configuration when the station's state is properly initialized. [14739.655703] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffffffffffffffa0 [14739.811820] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 895854 Comm: hostapd Tainted: G [14739.821394] Tainted: [C]=CRAP, [O]=OOT_MODULE [14739.825746] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 (DT) [14739.831577] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [14739.838538] pc : mt7925_sta_set_decap_offload+0xc0/0x1b8 [mt7925_common] [14739.845271] lr : mt7925_sta_set_decap_offload+0x58/0x1b8 [mt7925_common] [14739.851985] sp : ffffffc085efb500 [14739.855295] x29: ffffffc085efb500 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffffff807803a158 [14739.862436] x26: ffffff8041ececb8 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: 0000000000000001 [14739.869577] x23: 0000000000000001 x22: 0000000000000008 x21: ffffff8041ecea88 [14739.876715] x20: ffffff8041c19ca0 x19: ffffff8078031fe0 x18: 0000000000000000 [14739.883853] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffffffe2aeac1110 x15: 000000559da48080 [14739.890991] x14: 0000000000000001 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000 [14739.898130] x11: 0a10020001008e88 x10: 0000000000001a50 x9 : ffffffe26457bfa0 [14739.905269] x8 : ffffff8042013bb0 x7 : ffffff807fb6cbf8 x6 : dead000000000100 [14739.912407] x5 : dead000000000122 x4 : ffffff80780326c8 x3 : 0000000000000000 [14739.919546] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffffff8041ececb8 [14739.926686] Call trace: [14739.929130] mt7925_sta_set_decap_offload+0xc0/0x1b8 [mt7925_common] [14739.935505] ieee80211_check_fast_rx+0x19c/0x510 [mac80211] [14739.941344] _sta_info_move_state+0xe4/0x510 [mac80211] [14739.946860] sta_info_move_state+0x1c/0x30 [mac80211] [14739.952116] sta_apply_auth_flags.constprop.0+0x90/0x1b0 [mac80211] [14739.958708] sta_apply_parameters+0x234/0x5e0 [mac80211] [14739.964332] ieee80211_add_station+0xdc/0x190 [mac80211] [14739.969950] nl80211_new_station+0x46c/0x670 [cfg80211] [14739.975516] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xdc/0x150 [14739.980158] genl_rcv_msg+0x218/0x298 [14739.983830] netlink_rcv_skb+0x64/0x138 [14739.987670] genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 [14739.990816] netlink_unicast+0x314/0x380 [14739.994742] netlink_sendmsg+0x198/0x3f0 [14739.998664] __sock_sendmsg+0x64/0xc0 [14740.002324] ____sys_sendmsg+0x260/0x298 [14740.006242] ___sys_sendmsg+0xb4/0x110

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-07-25

Last modified 2025-11-19

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-476

CVE-2025-38450 is a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability

What is NULL Pointer Dereference?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.11 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.11

Fixed in

✓ 6.12.39 6.12.x ✓ 6.15.7 6.15.x ✓ 6.16

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-38450 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/35ad47c0b3da04b00b19a8b9ed5632e2f2520472
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91c3dec2453b3742e8f666957b99945edc30577f
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b50874f297fcc62adc7396f35209878e51010b0
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2025-38450

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-07-25

Modified 2025-11-19

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38450?

CVE-2025-38450 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.11 onward and has been patched in 6.12.39, 6.15.7 and 6.16. CVE-2025-38450 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38450?

CVE-2025-38450 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-38450?

Yes — CVE-2025-38450 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.39, 6.15.7 and 6.16. If you are running Linux kernel 6.11 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2025-38450 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2025-38450 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. View CWE-476 on MITRE CWE →