VDB-320372 · CVE-2025-38512 · EUVD-2025-25086

Linux Kernel up to 6.1.145/6.6.98/6.12.38/6.15.6 mac80211_hwsim privilege escalation

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6.5	$0-$5k	0.84

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.145/6.6.98/6.12.38/6.15.6. This affects the function mac80211_hwsim. Such manipulation leads to an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-38512. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.145/6.6.98/6.12.38/6.15.6. It has been rated as problematic. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: prevent A-MSDU attacks in mesh networks This patch is a mitigation to prevent the A-MSDU spoofing vulnerability for mesh networks. The initial update to the IEEE 802.11 standard, in response to the FragAttacks, missed this case (CVE-2025-27558). It can be considered a variant of CVE-2020-24588 but for mesh networks. This patch tries to detect if a standard MSDU was turned into an A-MSDU by an adversary. This is done by parsing a received A-MSDU as a standard MSDU, calculating the length of the Mesh Control header, and seeing if the 6 bytes after this header equal the start of an rfc1042 header. If equal, this is a strong indication of an ongoing attack attempt. This defense was tested with mac80211_hwsim against a mesh network that uses an empty Mesh Address Extension field, i.e., when four addresses are used, and when using a 12-byte Mesh Address Extension field, i.e., when six addresses are used. Functionality of normal MSDUs and A-MSDUs was also tested, and confirmed working, when using both an empty and 12-byte Mesh Address Extension field. It was also tested with mac80211_hwsim that A-MSDU attacks in non-mesh networks keep being detected and prevented. Note that the vulnerability being patched, and the defense being implemented, was also discussed in the following paper and in the following IEEE 802.11 presentation: https://papers.mathyvanhoef.com/wisec2025.pdf https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/25/11-25-0949-00-000m-a-msdu-mesh-spoof-protection.docx

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-38512 since 04/16/2025. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 264665 (SUSE SLES12 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2025:03204-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.146, 6.6.99, 6.12.39 or 6.15.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e2c8a3c0388aef6bfc4aabfba07bc7dff16eea80/ec6392061de6681148b63ee6c8744da833498cdd/e01851f6e9a665a6011b14714b271d3e6b0b8d32/6e3b09402cc6c3e3474fa548e8adf6897dda05de/737bb912ebbe4571195c56eba557c4d7315b26fb 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 (264665), EUVD (EUVD-2025-25086) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1858). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

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

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: 6.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.5

VulDB Base Score: 5.5
VulDB Temp Score: 5.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privilege escalation
CWE: Unknown
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒