CVE-2025-38420
What it is
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: carl9170: do not ping device which has failed to load firmware Syzkaller reports [1, 2] crashes caused by an attempts to ping the device which has failed to load firmware. Since such a device doesn't pass 'ieee80211_register_hw()', an internal workqueue managed by 'ieee80211_queue_work()' is not yet created and an attempt to queue work on it causes null-ptr-deref. [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=9a4aec827829942045ff [2] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=0d8afba53e8fb2633217
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of service disruption.
- Exploit odds
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 5.5 MEDIUM (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference
- Record status
- Analyzed
Affected
- Linux Kernel < 5.4.295
- Linux Kernel < 5.10.239
- Linux Kernel < 5.15.186
- Linux Kernel < 6.1.142
- Linux Kernel < 6.6.95
- Linux Kernel < 6.12.35
- Linux Kernel < 6.15.4
- Linux Kernel 6.16
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.5
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2025-38420.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2025-38420. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
Fix and advisories
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html