Linux Kernel up to 6.17.2 wifi ath12k_dp_mon_rx_deliver_msdu privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.2. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function ath12k_dp_mon_rx_deliver_msdu of the component wifi. Performing a manipulation results in an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2025-40131. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.2. This affects the function ath12k_dp_mon_rx_deliver_msdu of the component wifi. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Fix peer lookup in ath12k_dp_mon_rx_deliver_msdu() In ath12k_dp_mon_rx_deliver_msdu(), peer lookup fails because rxcb->peer_id is not updated with a valid value. This is expected in monitor mode, where RX frames bypass the regular RX descriptor path that typically sets rxcb->peer_id. As a result, the peer is NULL, and link_id and link_valid fields in the RX status are not populated. This leads to a WARN_ON in mac80211 when it receives data frame from an associated station with invalid link_id. Fix this potential issue by using ppduinfo->peer_id, which holds the correct peer id for the received frame. This ensures that the peer is correctly found and the associated link metadata is updated accordingly. 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 uniquely identified as CVE-2025-40131 since 04/16/2025. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/15/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 298897 (Ubuntu 25.10 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-8029-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.17.3 or 6.18-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch da64eb2da76ce5626238a951fdf3e81810454427/7ca61ed8b3f3fc9a7decd68039cb1d7d1238c566 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 (298897) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2579). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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