CVE-2025-38601 wifi: ath11k: clear initialized flag for deinit-ed srng lists
A missing flag reset in the ath11k WiFi driver causes kernel panics during resume after firmware crashes, 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-2025-38601?
CVE-2025-38601 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 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: ath11k: clear initialized flag for deinit-ed srng lists
In a number of cases we see kernel panics on resume due to ath11k kernel page fault, which happens under the following circumstances:
1) First ath11k_hal_dump_srng_stats() call
Last interrupt received for each group: ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 0 22511ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 1 14440788ms before [..] ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to receive control response completion, polling.. ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Service connect timeout ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to connect to HTT: -110 ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to start core: -110 ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: firmware crashed: MHI_CB_EE_RDDM ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: already resetting count 2 ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to wait wlan mode request (mode 4): -110 ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: qmi failed to send wlan mode off: -110 ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to reconfigure driver on crash recovery [..]
2) At this point reconfiguration fails (we have 2 resets) and ath11k_core_reconfigure_on_crash() calls ath11k_hal_srng_deinit() which destroys srng lists. However, it does not reset per-list ->initialized flag.
3) Second ath11k_hal_dump_srng_stats() call sees stale ->initialized flag and attempts to dump srng stats:
Last interrupt received for each group: ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 0 66785ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 1 14485062ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 2 14485062ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 3 14485062ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 4 14780845ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 5 14780845ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 6 14485062ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 7 66814ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 8 68997ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 9 67588ms before ath11k_pci 0000:01:00.0: group_id 10 69511ms before BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffa007404eb010 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 100000067 P4D 100000067 PUD 10022d067 PMD 100b01067 PTE 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:ath11k_hal_dump_srng_stats+0x2b4/0x3b0 [ath11k] Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body+0xae/0xb0 ? page_fault_oops+0x381/0x3e0 ? exc_page_fault+0x69/0xa0 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 ? ath11k_hal_dump_srng_stats+0x2b4/0x3b0 [ath11k (HASH:6cea 4)] ath11k_qmi_driver_event_work+0xbd/0x1050 [ath11k (HASH:6cea 4)] worker_thread+0x389/0x930 kthread+0x149/0x170
Clear per-list ->initialized flag in ath11k_hal_srng_deinit().
Weakness: CWE-909
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38601?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38601?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-38601 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38601 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as AZL-66506, BELL-CVE-2025-38601, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38601, GHSA-pcv5-jjwm-3j29, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38601, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38601 and 4 more.