CVE-2025-38643

wifi: cfg80211: Add missing lock in cfg80211_check_and_end_cac()

Severity Score

5.5

*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

*KEV

Decision

*SSVC

Descriptions

MITRE
TN

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

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

*Credits: N/A

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

Medium

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

Partial

Integrity

Partial

Availability

Complete

* Common Vulnerability Scoring System

SSVC

Decision:-

Exploitation

Automatable

Tech. Impact

* Organization's Worst-case Scenario

Timeline

2025-04-16 CVE Reserved
2025-08-22 CVE Published
2025-08-22 CVE Updated
2025-08-23 EPSS Updated
---------- Exploited in Wild
---------- KEV Due Date
---------- First Exploit

CWE

CAPEC

References (7)

URL	Tag	Source
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/26ec17a1dc5ecdd8d91aba63ead6f8b5ad5dea0d	Vuln. Introduced
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2dbb6faebb94d6d5ae87e5ea6be9280c366393e1	Vuln. Introduced
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a4f85674e4693904ade7cbf6722d0d105d8062d8	Vuln. Introduced
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e233cbaf8ecc5859f0417dd53899da4edb477991	Vuln. Introduced

URL	Date	SRC

URL	Date	SRC
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7022df2248c08c6f75a01714163ac902333bf3db	2025-08-15
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dbce810607726408f889d3358f4780fd1436861e	2025-08-15
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2c5dee15239f3f3e31aa5c8808f18996c039e2c1	2025-07-18

URL	Date	SRC

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"				>= 5.5 < 6.15.10 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.5 < 6.15.10"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				>= 5.5 < 6.16.1 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.5 < 6.16.1"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				>= 5.5 < 6.17-rc1 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.5 < 6.17-rc1"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				4.14.170 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version "4.14.170"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				4.19.102 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version "4.19.102"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				5.4.18 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version "5.4.18"		en		Affected