VDB-317695 · CVE-2025-38420 · Nessus 264318

Linux Kernel up to 6.16-rc2 wifi ieee80211_register_hw null pointer dereference

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
5.5	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.16-rc2. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function ieee80211_register_hw of the component wifi. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2025-38420. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.16-rc2 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ieee80211_register_hw of the component wifi. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: carl9170: do not ping device which has failed to load firmware Syzkaller reports [1, 2] crashes caused by an attempts to ping the device which has failed to load firmware. Since such a device doesn't pass 'ieee80211_register_hw()', an internal workqueue managed by 'ieee80211_queue_work()' is not yet created and an attempt to queue work on it causes null-ptr-deref. [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=9a4aec827829942045ff [2] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=0d8afba53e8fb2633217

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-38420 since 04/16/2025. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 264318 (Oracle Linux 7 / 8 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2025-20553)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.295, 5.10.239, 5.15.186, 6.1.142, 6.6.95, 6.12.35, 6.15.4 or 6.16-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d/8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3/527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c/bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a/4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4/301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be/11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36/15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870 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 (264318) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1653). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

Debian Linux
Amazon Linux 2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Ubuntu Linux
SUSE Linux
Oracle Linux
IBM QRadar SIEM
SUSE openSUSE
RESF Rocky Linux
Dell Avamar
Open Source Linux Kernel
Dell NetWorker
Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Linux

Name

Kernel

Version

License

open-source

Website

Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.5

VulDB Base Score: 5.7
VulDB Temp Score: 5.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Null pointer dereference
CWE: CWE-476 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 264318
Nessus Name: Oracle Linux 7 / 8 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2025-20553)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

04/16/2025 CVE reserved
07/25/2025 +100 days Advisory disclosed
07/25/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
01/03/2026 +162 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-38420 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-38420
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-317695
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-1653 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 07/25/2025 19:07
Updated: 01/03/2026 21:11
Changes: 07/25/2025 19:07 (59), 08/20/2025 20:31 (7), 09/13/2025 02:26 (2), 09/14/2025 20:13 (1), 09/16/2025 05:29 (1), 09/28/2025 22:58 (1), 11/02/2025 10:14 (1), 11/17/2025 03:50 (1), 12/24/2025 06:17 (11), 01/03/2026 21:11 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103