CVE-2025-38606

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Avoid accessing uninitialized arvif->ar during beacon miss During beacon miss handling, ath12k driver iterates over active virtual interfaces (vifs) and attempts to access the radio object (ar) via arvif->deflink->ar. However, after commit aa80f12f3bed ("wifi: ath12k: defer vdev creation for MLO"), arvif is linked to a radio only after vdev creation, typically when a channel is assigned or a scan is requested. For P2P capable devices, a default P2P interface is created by wpa_supplicant along with regular station interfaces, these serve as dummy interfaces for P2P-capable stations, lack an associated netdev and initiate frequent scans to discover neighbor p2p devices. When a scan is initiated on such P2P vifs, driver selects destination radio (ar) based on scan frequency, creates a scan vdev, and attaches arvif to the radio. Once the scan completes or is aborted, the scan vdev is deleted, detaching arvif from the radio and leaving arvif->ar uninitialized. While handling beacon miss for station interfaces, P2P interface is also encountered in the vif iteration and ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter() tries to dereference the uninitialized arvif->deflink->ar. Fix this by verifying that vdev is created for the arvif before accessing its ar during beacon miss handling and similar vif iterator callbacks. ========================================================================== wlp6s0: detected beacon loss from AP (missed 7 beacons) - probing KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017] CPU: 5 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/5 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1-wt-ath+ #2 PREEMPT(full) RIP: 0010:ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter+0xb5/0x1a0 [ath12k] Call Trace: __iterate_interfaces+0x11a/0x410 [mac80211] ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic+0x61/0x140 [mac80211] ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss+0xa1/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_roam_event+0x393/0x560 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_op_rx+0x1486/0x28c0 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_process_trailer.isra.0+0x2fb/0x620 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x448/0x830 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_recv_process_cb+0x549/0x9e0 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_per_engine_service+0xbe/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_ce_workqueue+0x69/0x120 [ath12k] process_one_work+0xe3a/0x1430 Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1 Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00284.1-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-08-19
Last modified 2025-11-26
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-2025-38606 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 6.14 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.15.10, 6.16.1, 6.17 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 6.14
Fixed in
✓ 6.15.10 6.15.x ✓ 6.16.1 6.16.x ✓ 6.17

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-38606 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2025-38606?

    CVE-2025-38606 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 6.14 onward and has been patched in 6.15.10, 6.16.1 and 6.17. CVE-2025-38606 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38606?

    CVE-2025-38606 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-2025-38606?

    Yes — CVE-2025-38606 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.15.10, 6.16.1 and 6.17. If you are running Linux kernel 6.14 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-38606 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-38606 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 →