CVE-2025-38606

MEDIUM
2025-08-19 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
5.5
CVSS 3.1
Share

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

3
Analysis Generated
Mar 28, 2026 - 19:07 vuln.today
Patch Released
Mar 28, 2026 - 19:07 nvd
Patch available
CVE Published
Aug 19, 2025 - 17:15 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5

Description

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

Analysis

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. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability could allow attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer.

Technical Context

This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. 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 Affected products include: Linux Linux Kernel.

Affected Products

Linux Linux Kernel.

Remediation

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +0.0
CVSS: +28
POC: 0

Vendor Status

Share

CVE-2025-38606 vulnerability details – vuln.today

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy