CVE-2025-38293 wifi: ath11k: fix node corruption in ar->arvifs list
A race condition in the ath11k WiFi driver causes kernel panic during WLAN recovery, leading to denial of service.
- 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-2025-38293?
CVE-2025-38293 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 Jul 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: 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
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38293?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38293?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-38293 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38293 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38293, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38293, GHSA-x3qq-xqjx-f5p7, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38293, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38293, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38293 and 2 more.