# CVE-2025-38643: wifi: cfg80211: Add missing lock in cfg80211_check_and_end_cac()

> A missing lock in the Linux kernel WiFi subsystem can cause a race condition, leading to a kernel warning and potential denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66653, AZL-71167, BELL-CVE-2025-38643, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38643, GHSA-mw57-63xv-7mx2, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38643, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38643, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38643, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38643, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38643

## What is CVE-2025-38643?

CVE-2025-38643 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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: cfg80211: Add missing lock in cfg80211_check_and_end_cac()

Callers of wdev_chandef() must hold the wiphy mutex.

But the worker cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk() never takes the lock.
Which triggers the warning below with the mesh_peer_connected_dfs
test from hostapd and not (yet) released mac80211 code changes:

WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 495 at net/wireless/chan.c:1552 wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 495 Comm: kworker/u4:2 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc5-wt-g03960e6f9d47 #33 13c287eeabfe1efea01c0bcc863723ab082e17cf
Workqueue: cfg80211 cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk
Stack:
 00000000 00000001 ffffff00 6093267c
 00000000 6002ec30 6d577c50 60037608
 00000000 67e8d108 6063717b 00000000
Call Trace:
 [<6002ec30>] ? _printk+0x0/0x98
 [<6003c2b3>] show_stack+0x10e/0x11a
 [<6002ec30>] ? _printk+0x0/0x98
 [<60037608>] dump_stack_lvl+0x71/0xb8
 [<6063717b>] ? wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165
 [<6003766d>] dump_stack+0x1e/0x20
 [<6005d1b7>] __warn+0x101/0x20f
 [<6005d3a8>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0xe3/0x15d
 [<600b0c5c>] ? mark_lock.part.0+0x0/0x4ec
 [<60751191>] ? __this_cpu_preempt_check+0x0/0x16
 [<600b11a2>] ? mark_held_locks+0x5a/0x6e
 [<6005d2c5>] ? warn_slowpath_fmt+0x0/0x15d
 [<60052e53>] ? unblock_signals+0x3a/0xe7
 [<60052f2d>] ? um_set_signals+0x2d/0x43
 [<60751191>] ? __this_cpu_preempt_check+0x0/0x16
 [<607508b2>] ? lock_is_held_type+0x207/0x21f
 [<6063717b>] wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165
 [<605f89b4>] regulatory_propagate_dfs_state+0x247/0x43f
 [<60052f00>] ? um_set_signals+0x0/0x43
 [<605e6bfd>] cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk+0x3a/0x4a
 [<6007e460>] process_scheduled_works+0x3bc/0x60e
 [<6007d0ec>] ? move_linked_works+0x4d/0x81
 [<6007d120>] ? assign_work+0x0/0xaa
 [<6007f81f>] worker_thread+0x220/0x2dc
 [<600786ef>] ? set_pf_worker+0x0/0x57
 [<60087c96>] ? to_kthread+0x0/0x43
 [<6008ab3c>] kthread+0x2d3/0x2e2
 [<6007f5ff>] ? worker_thread+0x0/0x2dc
 [<6006c05b>] ? calculate_sigpending+0x0/0x56
 [<6003b37d>] new_thread_handler+0x4a/0x64
irq event stamp: 614611
hardirqs last  enabled at (614621): [<00000000600bc96b>] __up_console_sem+0x82/0xaf
hardirqs last disabled at (614630): [<00000000600bc92c>] __up_console_sem+0x43/0xaf
softirqs last  enabled at (614268): [<00000000606c55c6>] __ieee80211_wake_queue+0x933/0x985
softirqs last disabled at (614266): [<00000000606c52d6>] __ieee80211_wake_queue+0x643/0x985

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38643?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38643?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38643 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38643 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-2025-38643 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38643 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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-2025-38643 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-2025-38643/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38643/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38643
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38643
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38643

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38643/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.