Skip to content
Fencer Intel
high 8.8

CVE-2025-38293 json

wifi: ath11k: fix node corruption in ar->arvifs list

published last yr. modified 25d ago also EUVD-2025-20955

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 27%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: ath11k: fix node corruption in ar->arvifs list

In current WLAN recovery code flow, ath11k_core_halt() only reinitializes the "arvifs" list head. This will cause the list node immediately following the list head to become an invalid list node. Because the prev of that node still points to the list head "arvifs", but the next of the list head "arvifs" no longer points to that list node.

When a WLAN recovery occurs during the execution of a vif removal, and it happens before the spin_lock_bh(&ar->data_lock) in ath11k_mac_op_remove_interface(), list_del() will detect the previously mentioned situation, thereby triggering a kernel panic.

The fix is to remove and reinitialize all vif list nodes from the list head "arvifs" during WLAN halt. The reinitialization is to make the list nodes valid, ensuring that the list_del() in ath11k_mac_op_remove_interface() can execute normally.

Call trace: __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xb8/0xd0 ath11k_mac_op_remove_interface+0xb0/0x27c [ath11k] drv_remove_interface+0x48/0x194 [mac80211] ieee80211_do_stop+0x6e0/0x844 [mac80211] ieee80211_stop+0x44/0x17c [mac80211] __dev_close_many+0xac/0x150 __dev_change_flags+0x194/0x234 dev_change_flags+0x24/0x6c devinet_ioctl+0x3a0/0x670 inet_ioctl+0x200/0x248 sock_do_ioctl+0x60/0x118 sock_ioctl+0x274/0x35c __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xac/0xf0 invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114 ...

Tested-on: QCA6698AQ hw2.1 PCI WLAN.HSP.1.1-04591-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_IOE-1

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.10.239, 5.15.186, 6.1.142, 6.6.94, 6.12.34, 6.15.3, 6.16
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.147-1
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.12.35-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38293

  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-156.166
  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-100.100
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1092.99
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1046.49
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1092.101
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1047.50
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1089.95
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1043.48

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38293

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4
  • kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-obs-qa SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1SUSE-SU-2025:03023-1SUSE-SU-2025:03011-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1

Is CVE-2025-38293 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2025-38293 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of Service in ath11k wifi driver due to list node corruption

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
25d ago

Exploit prediction

0.34% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 27% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.