# CVE-2025-38509: wifi: mac80211: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths

> A missing validation in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem allows malformed VHT notifications to trigger a kernel warning, potentially causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 16 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38509, GHSA-2chp-rwm6-cjcw, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509

## What is CVE-2025-38509?

CVE-2025-38509 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Aug 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: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths

VHT operating mode notifications are not defined for channel widths
below 20 MHz. In particular, 5 MHz and 10 MHz are not valid under the
VHT specification and must be rejected.

Without this check, malformed notifications using these widths may
reach ieee80211_chan_width_to_rx_bw(), leading to a WARN_ON due to
invalid input. This issue was reported by syzbot.

Reject these unsupported widths early in sta_link_apply_parameters()
when opmode_notif is used. The accepted set includes 20, 40, 80, 160,
and 80+80 MHz, which are valid for VHT. While 320 MHz is not defined
for VHT, it is allowed to avoid rejecting HE or EHT clients that may
still send a VHT opmode notification.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38509?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38509?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38509 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38509 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38509 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38509 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Aug 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-2025-38509 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-38509/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38509/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38509
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38509
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38509

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38509/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.