CVE-2025-21828 wifi: mac80211: don't flush non-uploaded STAs
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem can cause a system crash when handling failed station insertions in IBSS scenarios.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-21828?
CVE-2025-21828 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 Mar 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: don't flush non-uploaded STAs
If STA state is pre-moved to AUTHORIZED (such as in IBSS scenarios) and insertion fails, the station is freed. In this case, the driver never knew about the station, so trying to flush it is unexpected and may crash.
Check if the sta was uploaded to the driver before and fix this.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21828?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-21828?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-21828 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21828 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-21828, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21828, GHSA-f23x-vp93-47jp, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21828, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21828.