# CVE-2025-71229: wifi: rtw88: Fix alignment fault in rtw_core_enable_beacon()

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash in the rtw88 WiFi driver by triggering an alignment fault during beacon enablement.

- **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:** 18 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77948, BELL-CVE-2025-71229, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71229, GHSA-w94g-pmcx-r454, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-71229, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-71229, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-71229, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-71229, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71229

## What is CVE-2025-71229?

CVE-2025-71229 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Feb 2026. 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: rtw88: Fix alignment fault in rtw_core_enable_beacon()

rtw_core_enable_beacon() reads 4 bytes from an address that is not a
multiple of 4. This results in a crash on some systems.

Do 1 byte reads/writes instead.

Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff8000827e0522
Mem abort info:
  ESR = 0x0000000096000021
  EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
  SET = 0, FnV = 0
  EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
  FSC = 0x21: alignment fault
Data abort info:
  ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000021, ISS2 = 0x00000000
  CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
  GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000005492000
[ffff8000827e0522] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=10000001021d9403, pud=10000001021da403, pmd=100000011061c403, pte=00780000f3200f13
Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000021 [#1]  SMP
Modules linked in: [...] rtw88_8822ce rtw88_8822c rtw88_pci rtw88_core [...]
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 73 Comm: kworker/u32:2 Tainted: G        W           6.17.9 #1-NixOS VOLUNTARY
Tainted: [W]=WARN
Hardware name: FriendlyElec NanoPC-T6 LTS (DT)
Workqueue: phy0 rtw_c2h_work [rtw88_core]
pstate: 60400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : rtw_pci_read32+0x18/0x40 [rtw88_pci]
lr : rtw_core_enable_beacon+0xe0/0x148 [rtw88_core]
sp : ffff800080cc3ca0
x29: ffff800080cc3ca0 x28: ffff0001031fc240 x27: ffff000102100828
x26: ffffd2cb7c9b4088 x25: ffff0001031fc2c0 x24: ffff000112fdef00
x23: ffff000112fdef18 x22: ffff000111c29970 x21: 0000000000000001
x20: 0000000000000001 x19: ffff000111c22040 x18: 0000000000000000
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000
x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : ffffd2cb6507c090
x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
x2 : 0000000000007f10 x1 : 0000000000000522 x0 : ffff8000827e0522
Call trace:
 rtw_pci_read32+0x18/0x40 [rtw88_pci] (P)
 rtw_hw_scan_chan_switch+0x124/0x1a8 [rtw88_core]
 rtw_fw_c2h_cmd_handle+0x254/0x290 [rtw88_core]
 rtw_c2h_work+0x50/0x98 [rtw88_core]
 process_one_work+0x178/0x3f8
 worker_thread+0x208/0x418
 kthread+0x120/0x220
 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
Code: d28fe202 8b020000 f9524400 8b214000 (b9400000)
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71229?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71229?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71229 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71229 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-2025-71229 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71229 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Feb 2026. 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-2025-71229 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-2025-71229/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71229/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71229
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71229
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71229

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71229/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.