VulnerabilityPublished 22 Aug 2025Updated 5 Nov 2026

CVE-2025-38646: Linux kernel · wifi: rtw89: avoid NULL dereference when RX problematic packet on unsupported 6 GHz band

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Compare

Not known to be exploited · fixed in f3527ac15a00916e68ecb495b74dbe6a6c62a06f : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 5 Nov 2026, 21:34 UTC

Severity

Unrated

Rated by Threat Radar · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

Exploitation: No evidence of active exploitation and no public proof of concept
Automatable: Attackers cannot reliably automate steps 1–4 of the kill chain
Technical impact: Limited control over the software or limited information exposure

CISA SSVC assessment, 2026-11-05.

Patch

Available – fixed in f3527ac15a00916e68ecb495b74dbe6a6c62a06f, 892b29eab44b1803d2cad8e50f1bc2144ef478cb, 77a7a48f87d673a68664bebf044214821decbfda +2

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 5 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c6aa9a9c47252ac7b07ed6d10459027e2f2a2de0, < f3527ac15a00916e68ecb495b74dbe6a6c62a06f	Fixed in f3527ac15a00916e68ecb495b74dbe6a6c62a06f
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c6aa9a9c47252ac7b07ed6d10459027e2f2a2de0, < 892b29eab44b1803d2cad8e50f1bc2144ef478cb	Fixed in 892b29eab44b1803d2cad8e50f1bc2144ef478cb
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c6aa9a9c47252ac7b07ed6d10459027e2f2a2de0, < 77a7a48f87d673a68664bebf044214821decbfda	Fixed in 77a7a48f87d673a68664bebf044214821decbfda
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c6aa9a9c47252ac7b07ed6d10459027e2f2a2de0, < 7e04f01bb94fe61c73cc59f0495c3b6c16a83231	Fixed in 7e04f01bb94fe61c73cc59f0495c3b6c16a83231
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ c6aa9a9c47252ac7b07ed6d10459027e2f2a2de0, < 4b525630729082f026e7030eafccf89e3add7eae	Fixed in 4b525630729082f026e7030eafccf89e3add7eae
LinuxLinux	Affected =6.4	Fixed in–

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtw89: avoid NULL dereference when RX problematic packet on unsupported 6 GHz band With a quite rare chance, RX report might be problematic to make SW think a packet is received on 6 GHz band even if the chip does not support 6 GHz band actually. Since SW won't initialize stuffs for unsupported bands, NULL dereference will happen then in the sequence, rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter() -> rtw89_core_cancel_6ghz_probe_tx(). So, add a check to avoid it. The following is a crash log for this case. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000032 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 1 PID: 1907 Comm: irq/131-rtw89_p Tainted: G U 6.6.56-05896-g89f5fb0eb30b #1 (HASH:1400 4) Hardware name: Google Telith/Telith, BIOS Google_Telith.15217.747.0 11/12/2024 RIP: 0010:rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter+0xd2/0x310 [rtw89_core] Code: 4c 89 7d c8 48 89 55 c0 49 8d 44 24 02 48 89 45 b8 45 31 ff eb 11 41 c6 45 3a 01 41 b7 01 4d 8b 6d 00 4d 39 f5 74 42 8b 43 10 <41> 33 45 32 0f b7 4b 14 66 41 33 4d 36 0f b7 c9 09 c1 74 d8 4d 85 RSP: 0018:ffff9f3080138ca0 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 00000000b8bf5770 RBX: ffff91b5e8c639c0 RCX: 0000000000000011 RDX: ffff91b582de1be8 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff91b5e8c639e6 RBP: ffff9f3080138d00 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffff91b59de70000 R11: ffffffffc069be50 R12: ffff91b5e8c639e4 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff91b5828020b8 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff91b8efa40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000032 CR3: 00000002bf838000 CR4: 0000000000750ee0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? __die_body+0x68/0xb0 ? page_fault_oops+0x379/0x3e0 ? exc_page_fault+0x4f/0xa0 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 ? __pfx_rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter+0x10/0x10 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)] ? rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter+0xd2/0x310 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)] __iterate_interfaces+0x59/0x110 [mac80211 (HASH:1400 6)] ? __pfx_rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter+0x10/0x10 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)] ? __pfx_rtw89_vif_rx_stats_iter+0x10/0x10 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)] ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic+0x36/0x50 [mac80211 (HASH:1400 6)] rtw89_core_rx_to_mac80211+0xfd/0x1b0 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)] rtw89_core_rx+0x43a/0x980 [rtw89_core (HASH:1400 5)]

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…