# CVE-2025-38604: wifi: rtl818x: Kill URBs before clearing tx status queue

> A race condition in the rtl8187 WiFi driver causes a kernel NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.

- **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:** 19 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66449, AZL-73599, BELL-CVE-2025-38604, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38604, GHSA-vp7v-x8x5-fj5p, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38604, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38604, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38604, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38604, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38604, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38604

## What is CVE-2025-38604?

CVE-2025-38604 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: rtl818x: Kill URBs before clearing tx status queue

In rtl8187_stop() move the call of usb_kill_anchored_urbs() before clearing
b_tx_status.queue. This change prevents callbacks from using already freed
skb due to anchor was not killed before freeing such skb.

 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000080
 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
 #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
 PGD 0 P4D 0
 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
 CPU: 7 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/7 Not tainted 6.15.0 #8 PREEMPT(voluntary)
 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
 RIP: 0010:ieee80211_tx_status_irqsafe+0x21/0xc0 [mac80211]
 Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
  rtl8187_tx_cb+0x116/0x150 [rtl8187]
  __usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x9d/0x120
  usb_giveback_urb_bh+0xbb/0x140
  process_one_work+0x19b/0x3c0
  bh_worker+0x1a7/0x210
  tasklet_action+0x10/0x30
  handle_softirqs+0xf0/0x340
  __irq_exit_rcu+0xcd/0xf0
  common_interrupt+0x85/0xa0
  </IRQ>

Tested on RTL8187BvE device.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38604?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38604?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38604 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38604 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-2025-38604 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38604 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38604 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-2025-38604/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38604/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38604
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38604
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38604

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38604/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.