# CVE-2025-38348: wifi: p54: prevent buffer-overflow in p54_rx_eeprom_readback()

> A malicious USB device can trigger a buffer overflow in the Linux kernel p54 WiFi driver, potentially causing a crash or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64893, BELL-CVE-2025-38348, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38348, GHSA-7vp7-2c88-3j3x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38348, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38348, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38348, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38348, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38348

## What is CVE-2025-38348?

CVE-2025-38348 is a high-severity memory corruption 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: p54: prevent buffer-overflow in p54_rx_eeprom_readback()

Robert Morris reported:

|If a malicious USB device pretends to be an Intersil p54 wifi
|interface and generates an eeprom_readback message with a large
|eeprom->v1.len, p54_rx_eeprom_readback() will copy data from the
|message beyond the end of priv->eeprom.
|
|static void p54_rx_eeprom_readback(struct p54_common *priv,
|                                   struct sk_buff *skb)
|{
|        struct p54_hdr *hdr = (struct p54_hdr *) skb->data;
|        struct p54_eeprom_lm86 *eeprom = (struct p54_eeprom_lm86 *) hdr->data;
|
|        if (priv->fw_var >= 0x509) {
|                memcpy(priv->eeprom, eeprom->v2.data,
|                       le16_to_cpu(eeprom->v2.len));
|        } else {
|                memcpy(priv->eeprom, eeprom->v1.data,
|                       le16_to_cpu(eeprom->v1.len));
|        }
| [...]

The eeprom->v{1,2}.len is set by the driver in p54_download_eeprom().
The device is supposed to provide the same length back to the driver.
But yes, it's possible (like shown in the report) to alter the value
to something that causes a crash/panic due to overrun.

This patch addresses the issue by adding the size to the common device
context, so p54_rx_eeprom_readback no longer relies on possibly tampered
values... That said, it also checks if the "firmware" altered the value
and no longer copies them.

The one, small saving grace is: Before the driver tries to read the eeprom,
it needs to upload >a< firmware. the vendor firmware has a proprietary
license and as a reason, it is not present on most distributions by
default.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38348?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38348?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38348 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38348 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38348 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38348 is a high-severity memory corruption 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38348 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38348/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38348/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38348
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38348
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38348

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38348/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.