CVE-2025-38505 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mwifiex: discard erroneous disassoc frames on STA interface When operating in concurrent STA/AP mode with host MLME enabled, the firmware incorrectly sends disassociation frames to the STA interface when clients disconnect from the AP interface. This causes kernel warnings as the STA interface processes disconnect events that don't apply to it: [ 1303.240540] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 513 at net/wireless/mlme.c:141 cfg80211_process_disassoc+0x78/0xec [cfg80211] [ 1303.250861] Modules linked in: 8021q garp stp mrp llc rfcomm bnep btnxpuart nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 onboard_us [ 1303.327651] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 513 Comm: kworker/u9:2 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1+ #3 PREEMPT [ 1303.335937] Hardware name: Toradex Verdin AM62 WB on Verdin Development Board (DT) [ 1303.343588] Workqueue: MWIFIEX_RX_WORK_QUEUE mwifiex_rx_work_queue [mwifiex] [ 1303.350856] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 1303.357904] pc : cfg80211_process_disassoc+0x78/0xec [cfg80211] [ 1303.364065] lr : cfg80211_process_disassoc+0x70/0xec [cfg80211] [ 1303.370221] sp : ffff800083053be0 [ 1303.373590] x29: ffff800083053be0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000 [ 1303.380855] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 00000000ffffffff x24: ffff000002c5b8ae [ 1303.388120] x23: ffff000002c5b884 x22: 0000000000000001 x21: 0000000000000008 [ 1303.395382] x20: ffff000002c5b8ae x19: ffff0000064dd408 x18: 0000000000000006 [ 1303.402646] x17: 3a36333a61623a30 x16: 32206d6f72662063 x15: ffff800080bfe048 [ 1303.409910] x14: ffff000003625300 x13: 0000000000000001 x12: 0000000000000000 [ 1303.417173] x11: 0000000000000002 x10: ffff000003958600 x9 : ffff000003625300 [ 1303.424434] x8 : ffff00003fd9ef40 x7 : ffff0000039fc280 x6 : 0000000000000002 [ 1303.431695] x5 : ffff0000038976d4 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000003186 [ 1303.438956] x2 : 000000004836ba20 x1 : 0000000000006986 x0 : 00000000d00479de [ 1303.446221] Call trace: [ 1303.448722] cfg80211_process_disassoc+0x78/0xec [cfg80211] (P) [ 1303.454894] cfg80211_rx_mlme_mgmt+0x64/0xf8 [cfg80211] [ 1303.460362] mwifiex_process_mgmt_packet+0x1ec/0x460 [mwifiex] [ 1303.466380] mwifiex_process_sta_rx_packet+0x1bc/0x2a0 [mwifiex] [ 1303.472573] mwifiex_handle_rx_packet+0xb4/0x13c [mwifiex] [ 1303.478243] mwifiex_rx_work_queue+0x158/0x198 [mwifiex] [ 1303.483734] process_one_work+0x14c/0x28c [ 1303.487845] worker_thread+0x2cc/0x3d4 [ 1303.491680] kthread+0x12c/0x208 [ 1303.495014] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 Add validation in the STA receive path to verify that disassoc/deauth frames originate from the connected AP. Frames that fail this check are discarded early, preventing them from reaching the MLME layer and triggering WARN_ON(). This filtering logic is similar with that used in the ieee80211_rx_mgmt_disassoc() function in mac80211, which drops disassoc frames that don't match the current BSSID (!ether_addr_equal(mgmt->bssid, sdata->vif.cfg.ap_addr)), ensuring only relevant frames are processed. Tested on: - 8997 with FW 16.68.1.p197

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-08-16	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-08-16

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38505

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-38505 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38505
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38505
`suse`	low	CVE-2025-38505 severity low: SUSE including 110 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.31:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, …), 473 product×package rows across 80 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (80 product lines)): Known Not Affected 283, Fixed 165, First Fixed 25.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38505/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-38505 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 159, not-affected 131, released 103, needs-triage 2, needed 1, pending 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38505

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38505

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.12, < 6.12.39	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.15.7	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5::::::

References for CVE-2025-38505

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b602ddc0df723992721b0d286c90c9bdd755b34	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52654cebaac23dae31a9c97ae0da5be649f1ab4d	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a963819a121f5dd61e0b39934d8b5dec529da96a	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-38505 | wifi: mwifiex: discard erroneous disassoc frames on STA interface

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38505

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38505

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38505

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38505

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38505

References for CVE-2025-38505