CVE-2025-38643 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: Add missing lock in cfg80211_check_and_end_cac() Callers of wdev_chandef() must hold the wiphy mutex. But the worker cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk() never takes the lock. Which triggers the warning below with the mesh_peer_connected_dfs test from hostapd and not (yet) released mac80211 code changes: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 495 at net/wireless/chan.c:1552 wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 495 Comm: kworker/u4:2 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc5-wt-g03960e6f9d47 #33 13c287eeabfe1efea01c0bcc863723ab082e17cf Workqueue: cfg80211 cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk Stack: 00000000 00000001 ffffff00 6093267c 00000000 6002ec30 6d577c50 60037608 00000000 67e8d108 6063717b 00000000 Call Trace: [<6002ec30>] ? _printk+0x0/0x98 [<6003c2b3>] show_stack+0x10e/0x11a [<6002ec30>] ? _printk+0x0/0x98 [<60037608>] dump_stack_lvl+0x71/0xb8 [<6063717b>] ? wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165 [<6003766d>] dump_stack+0x1e/0x20 [<6005d1b7>] __warn+0x101/0x20f [<6005d3a8>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0xe3/0x15d [<600b0c5c>] ? mark_lock.part.0+0x0/0x4ec [<60751191>] ? __this_cpu_preempt_check+0x0/0x16 [<600b11a2>] ? mark_held_locks+0x5a/0x6e [<6005d2c5>] ? warn_slowpath_fmt+0x0/0x15d [<60052e53>] ? unblock_signals+0x3a/0xe7 [<60052f2d>] ? um_set_signals+0x2d/0x43 [<60751191>] ? __this_cpu_preempt_check+0x0/0x16 [<607508b2>] ? lock_is_held_type+0x207/0x21f [<6063717b>] wdev_chandef+0x60/0x165 [<605f89b4>] regulatory_propagate_dfs_state+0x247/0x43f [<60052f00>] ? um_set_signals+0x0/0x43 [<605e6bfd>] cfg80211_propagate_cac_done_wk+0x3a/0x4a [<6007e460>] process_scheduled_works+0x3bc/0x60e [<6007d0ec>] ? move_linked_works+0x4d/0x81 [<6007d120>] ? assign_work+0x0/0xaa [<6007f81f>] worker_thread+0x220/0x2dc [<600786ef>] ? set_pf_worker+0x0/0x57 [<60087c96>] ? to_kthread+0x0/0x43 [<6008ab3c>] kthread+0x2d3/0x2e2 [<6007f5ff>] ? worker_thread+0x0/0x2dc [<6006c05b>] ? calculate_sigpending+0x0/0x56 [<6003b37d>] new_thread_handler+0x4a/0x64 irq event stamp: 614611 hardirqs last enabled at (614621): [<00000000600bc96b>] __up_console_sem+0x82/0xaf hardirqs last disabled at (614630): [<00000000600bc92c>] __up_console_sem+0x43/0xaf softirqs last enabled at (614268): [<00000000606c55c6>] __ieee80211_wake_queue+0x933/0x985 softirqs last disabled at (614266): [<00000000606c52d6>] __ieee80211_wake_queue+0x643/0x985

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-08-23	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-08-23

—

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-2025-38643

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2025-38643 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 5, open 1.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38643
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38643
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-38643 severity moderate: SUSE including 470 source package names (2.1.3-6.80:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-35.1.21.12, 2.1.3-7.57:kernel-default-6.4.0-35.1, …), 935 product×package rows across 189 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (189 product lines)): Fixed 627, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 56, First Fixed 21.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38643/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-38643 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 162, released 132, needed 73, not-affected 25, pending 3, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38643

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38643

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.14.170, < 4.15	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.19.102, < 4.20	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.4.18, < 5.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.5.1, < 6.6.118	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.7, < 6.12.57	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.15.10	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.16, < 6.16.1	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	5.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.5:-::::::
linux	linux_kernel	5.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.5:rc7::::::

References for CVE-2025-38643

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2c5dee15239f3f3e31aa5c8808f18996c039e2c1	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a63523d3541eef4cf504a9682e6fbe94ffe79a6	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7022df2248c08c6f75a01714163ac902333bf3db	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3d24038eb775f2f7a1dfef58d8e1dc444a12820	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dbce810607726408f889d3358f4780fd1436861e	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/defe9ce121160788547e8e6ec4438ad8a14f40dd	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-38643 | wifi: cfg80211: Add missing lock in cfg80211_check_and_end_cac()

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38643

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38643

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38643

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38643

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38643

References for CVE-2025-38643