CVE-2025-38606

What it is

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

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

1. 2025-08-19 17:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-11-05 22:17 UTC 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

2025-08-19 17:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-11-05 22:17 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference

Record status

Analyzed

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 6.15.10
• Linux Kernel < 6.16.1

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

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-2025-38606.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2025-38606. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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