CVE-2025-38157 | wifi: ath9k_htc: Abort software beacon handling if disabled

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath9k_htc: Abort software beacon handling if disabled A malicious USB device can send a WMI_SWBA_EVENTID event from an ath9k_htc-managed device before beaconing has been enabled. This causes a device-by-zero error in the driver, leading to either a crash or an out of bounds read. Prevent this by aborting the handling in ath9k_htc_swba() if beacons are not enabled.

Published: 2025-07-03 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-38157 is rated Low Risk (39.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38157

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-29 0.02% 0.08% +0.06%
2 2025-12-19 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
3 2025-10-17 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38157

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38157

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38157

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38157 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38157
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38157
suse medium CVE-2025-38157 severity moderate: SUSE including 485 source package names (2.1.3-6.67:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-32.1.21.10, 2.1.3-7.44:kernel-default-6.4.0-32.1, …), 979 product×package rows across 196 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (196 product lines)): Fixed 704, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 23, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38157/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38157 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 169, ignored 168, needed 44, not-affected 22, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38157

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38157

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.0, < 5.4.295 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.239 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.94 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.34 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38157

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0281c19074976ec48f0078d50530b406ddae75bc Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40471b23147c86ea3ed97faee79937c618250bd0 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5482ef9875eaa43f0435e14570e1193823de857e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a85c21f812e02cb00ca07007d88acdd42d08c46 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ee3fb6258da8c890a51b514f60d7570dc703605 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac4e317a95a1092b5da5b9918b7118759342641c Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5ce9df1d68094d37360dbd9b09289d42fa21e54 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ee5ee646385f5846dcbc881389f3c44a197c402a Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html Third Party Advisory
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