// For flags

CVE-2025-21910

wifi: cfg80211: regulatory: improve invalid hints checking

Severity Score

5.5
*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: regulatory: improve invalid hints checking Syzbot keeps reporting an issue [1] that occurs when erroneous symbols
sent from userspace get through into user_alpha2[] via
regulatory_hint_user() call. Such invalid regulatory hints should be
rejected. While a sanity check from commit 47caf685a685 ("cfg80211: regulatory:
reject invalid hints") looks to be enough to deter these very cases,
there is a way to get around it due to 2 reasons. 1) The way isalpha() works, symbols other than latin lower and
upper letters may be used to determine a country/domain.
For instance, greek letters will also be considered upper/lower
letters and for such characters isalpha() will return true as well.
However, ISO-3166-1 alpha2 codes should only hold latin
characters. 2) While processing a user regulatory request, between
reg_process_hint_user() and regulatory_hint_user() there happens to
be a call to queue_regulatory_request() which modifies letters in
request->alpha2[] with toupper(). This works fine for latin symbols,
less so for weird letter characters from the second part of _ctype[]. Syzbot triggers a warning in is_user_regdom_saved() by first sending
over an unexpected non-latin letter that gets malformed by toupper()
into a character that ends up failing isalpha() check. Prevent this by enhancing is_an_alpha2() to ensure that incoming
symbols are latin letters and nothing else. [1] Syzbot report:
------------[ cut here ]------------
Unexpected user alpha2: A�
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 is_user_regdom_saved net/wireless/reg.c:440 [inline]
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 restore_alpha2 net/wireless/reg.c:3424 [inline]
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 restore_regulatory_settings+0x3c0/0x1e50 net/wireless/reg.c:3516
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 964 Comm: kworker/1:2 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc5-syzkaller-00044-gc1e939a21eb1 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024
Workqueue: events_power_efficient crda_timeout_work
RIP: 0010:is_user_regdom_saved net/wireless/reg.c:440 [inline]
RIP: 0010:restore_alpha2 net/wireless/reg.c:3424 [inline]
RIP: 0010:restore_regulatory_settings+0x3c0/0x1e50 net/wireless/reg.c:3516
...
Call Trace: <TASK> crda_timeout_work+0x27/0x50 net/wireless/reg.c:542 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3229 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xa65/0x1850 kernel/workqueue.c:3310 worker_thread+0x870/0xd30 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 kthread+0x2f2/0x390 kernel/kthread.c:389 ret_from_fork+0x4d/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:244 </TASK>

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: regulatory: improve invalid hints checking Syzbot keeps reporting an issue [1] that occurs when erroneous symbols sent from userspace get through into user_alpha2[] via regulatory_hint_user() call. Such invalid regulatory hints should be rejected. While a sanity check from commit 47caf685a685 ("cfg80211: regulatory: reject invalid hints") looks to be enough to deter these very cases, there is a way to get around it due to 2 reasons. 1) The way isalpha() works, symbols other than latin lower and upper letters may be used to determine a country/domain. For instance, greek letters will also be considered upper/lower letters and for such characters isalpha() will return true as well. However, ISO-3166-1 alpha2 codes should only hold latin characters. 2) While processing a user regulatory request, between reg_process_hint_user() and regulatory_hint_user() there happens to be a call to queue_regulatory_request() which modifies letters in request->alpha2[] with toupper(). This works fine for latin symbols, less so for weird letter characters from the second part of _ctype[]. Syzbot triggers a warning in is_user_regdom_saved() by first sending over an unexpected non-latin letter that gets malformed by toupper() into a character that ends up failing isalpha() check. Prevent this by enhancing is_an_alpha2() to ensure that incoming symbols are latin letters and nothing else. [1] Syzbot report: ------------[ cut here ]------------ Unexpected user alpha2: A� WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 is_user_regdom_saved net/wireless/reg.c:440 [inline] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 restore_alpha2 net/wireless/reg.c:3424 [inline] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 964 at net/wireless/reg.c:442 restore_regulatory_settings+0x3c0/0x1e50 net/wireless/reg.c:3516 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 964 Comm: kworker/1:2 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc5-syzkaller-00044-gc1e939a21eb1 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 Workqueue: events_power_efficient crda_timeout_work RIP: 0010:is_user_regdom_saved net/wireless/reg.c:440 [inline] RIP: 0010:restore_alpha2 net/wireless/reg.c:3424 [inline] RIP: 0010:restore_regulatory_settings+0x3c0/0x1e50 net/wireless/reg.c:3516 ... Call Trace: <TASK> crda_timeout_work+0x27/0x50 net/wireless/reg.c:542 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3229 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xa65/0x1850 kernel/workqueue.c:3310 worker_thread+0x870/0xd30 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 kthread+0x2f2/0x390 kernel/kthread.c:389 ret_from_fork+0x4d/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:244 </TASK>

Chenyuan Yang discovered that the CEC driver driver in the Linux kernel contained a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code. Attila Sz�sz discovered that the HFS+ file system implementation in the Linux Kernel contained a heap overflow vulnerability. An attacker could use a specially crafted file system image that, when mounted, could cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2024-12-29 CVE Reserved
  • 2025-04-01 CVE Published
  • 2025-05-04 CVE Updated
  • 2025-06-08 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 5.4.291
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 5.4.291"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 5.10.235
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 5.10.235"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 5.15.179
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 5.15.179"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 6.1.131
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 6.1.131"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 6.6.83
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 6.6.83"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 6.12.19
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 6.12.19"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 6.13.7
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 6.13.7"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 2.6.34 < 6.14
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 2.6.34 < 6.14"
en
Affected