CVE-2025-38644 | wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated

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.

Published: 2025-08-22 Last update: 2026-01-07 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-2025-38644 is rated Low Risk (23.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2025-38644

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 2025-08-23 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38644

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38644

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38644

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38644 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-2025-38644
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38644
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38644/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38644 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 164, released 133, needed 77, not-affected 19, needs-triage 2, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38644

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38644

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.17, < 6.1.148 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.102 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.42 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38644

cvelogic Threat Intelligence