Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2 wifi stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2. The affected element is an unknown function of the component wifi. This manipulation causes stack-based overflow. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-38291. No exploit exists. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2. Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown processing of the component wifi. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-121. A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Prevent sending WMI commands to firmware during firmware crash Currently, we encounter the following kernel call trace when a firmware crash occurs. This happens because the host sends WMI commands to the firmware while it is in recovery, causing the commands to fail and resulting in the kernel call trace. Set the ATH12K_FLAG_CRASH_FLUSH and ATH12K_FLAG_RECOVERY flags when the host driver receives the firmware crash notification from MHI. This prevents sending WMI commands to the firmware during recovery. Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x75/0xc0 register_lock_class+0x6be/0x7a0 ? __lock_acquire+0x644/0x19a0 __lock_acquire+0x95/0x19a0 lock_acquire+0x265/0x310 ? ath12k_ce_send+0xa2/0x210 [ath12k] ? find_held_lock+0x34/0xa0 ? ath12k_ce_send+0x56/0x210 [ath12k] _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x33/0x70 ? ath12k_ce_send+0xa2/0x210 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_send+0xa2/0x210 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_send+0x178/0x390 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_cmd_send_nowait+0x76/0xa0 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_cmd_send+0x62/0x190 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_pdev_bss_chan_info_request+0x62/0xc0 [ath1 ath12k_mac_op_get_survey+0x2be/0x310 [ath12k] ieee80211_dump_survey+0x99/0x240 [mac80211] nl80211_dump_survey+0xe7/0x470 [cfg80211] ? kmalloc_reserve+0x59/0xf0 genl_dumpit+0x24/0x70 netlink_dump+0x177/0x360 __netlink_dump_start+0x206/0x280 genl_family_rcv_msg_dumpit.isra.22+0x8a/0xe0 ? genl_family_rcv_msg_attrs_parse.isra.23+0xe0/0xe0 ? genl_op_lock.part.12+0x10/0x10 ? genl_dumpit+0x70/0x70 genl_rcv_msg+0x1d0/0x290 ? nl80211_del_station+0x330/0x330 [cfg80211] ? genl_get_cmd_both+0x50/0x50 netlink_rcv_skb+0x4f/0x100 genl_rcv+0x1f/0x30 netlink_unicast+0x1b6/0x260 netlink_sendmsg+0x31a/0x450 __sock_sendmsg+0xa8/0xb0 ____sys_sendmsg+0x1e4/0x260 ___sys_sendmsg+0x89/0xe0 ? local_clock_noinstr+0xb/0xc0 ? rcu_is_watching+0xd/0x40 ? kfree+0x1de/0x370 ? __sys_sendmsg+0x7a/0xc0 Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-38291 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/07/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 250158 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38291), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.15.3 or 6.16-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2563069baf243cadc76dc64d9085606742c4b282/e9e094a9734ea3bd4d4d117c915ccf129ac61ba1 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (250158) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1522). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell Avamar
• Dell NetWorker

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.15.0
• 6.15.1
• 6.15.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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