VDB-321083 · CVE-2025-38644 · Nessus 260276

Linux Kernel up to 6.16.0 wifi ieee80211_tdls_oper uninitialized pointer

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5.4	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.147/6.6.101/6.12.41/6.15.9/6.16.0. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function ieee80211_tdls_oper of the component wifi. The manipulation leads to uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2025-38644. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.147/6.6.101/6.12.41/6.15.9/6.16.0. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function ieee80211_tdls_oper of the component wifi. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated syzbot triggered a WARN in ieee80211_tdls_oper() by sending NL80211_TDLS_ENABLE_LINK immediately after NL80211_CMD_CONNECT, before association completed and without prior TDLS setup. This left internal state like sdata->u.mgd.tdls_peer uninitialized, leading to a WARN_ON() in code paths that assumed it was valid. Reject the operation early if not in station mode or not associated.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-38644 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 260276 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38644), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.148, 6.6.102, 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 or 6.17-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0c84204cf0bbe89e454a5caccc6a908bc7db1542/378ae9ccaea3f445838a087962a067b5cb2e8577/af72badd5ee423eb16f6ad7fe0a62f1b4252d848/4df663d4c1ca386dcab2f743dfc9f0cc07aef73c/31af06b574394530f68a4310c45ecbe2f68853c4/16ecdab5446f15a61ec88eb0d23d25d009821db0 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 (260276) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1898). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

Debian Linux
Google Cloud Platform
Amazon Linux 2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Ubuntu Linux
SUSE Linux
Oracle Linux
NetApp AFF
NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
SUSE openSUSE
Dell Avamar
NetApp FAS
Open Source Linux Kernel
Dell NetWorker
Dell Secure Connect Gateway
Dell ECS

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: 5.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.4

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

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Uninitialized pointer
CWE: CWE-824 / CWE-908
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒