CVE-2025-38606: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Avoid accessing uninitialized arvif->ar during beacon miss During ...

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Avoid accessing uninitialized arvif->ar during beacon miss During beacon miss handling, ath12k driver iterates over active virtual interfaces (vifs) and attempts to access the radio object (ar) via arvif->deflink->ar. However, after commit aa80f12f3bed ("wifi: ath12k: defer vdev creation for MLO"), arvif is linked to a radio only after vdev creation, typically when a channel is assigned or a scan is requested. For P2P capable devices, a default P2P interface is created by wpa_supplicant along with regular station interfaces, these serve as dummy interfaces for P2P-capable stations, lack an associated netdev and initiate frequent scans to discover neighbor p2p devices. When a scan is initiated on such P2P vifs, driver selects destination radio (ar) based on scan frequency, creates a scan vdev, and attaches arvif to the radio. Once the scan completes or is aborted, the scan vdev is deleted, detaching arvif from the radio and leaving arvif->ar uninitialized. While handling beacon miss for station interfaces, P2P interface is also encountered in the vif iteration and ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter() tries to dereference the uninitialized arvif->deflink->ar. Fix this by verifying that vdev is created for the arvif before accessing its ar during beacon miss handling and similar vif iterator callbacks. ========================================================================== wlp6s0: detected beacon loss from AP (missed 7 beacons) - probing KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017] CPU: 5 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/5 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1-wt-ath+ #2 PREEMPT(full) RIP: 0010:ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter+0xb5/0x1a0 [ath12k] Call Trace: __iterate_interfaces+0x11a/0x410 [mac80211] ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic+0x61/0x140 [mac80211] ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss+0xa1/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_roam_event+0x393/0x560 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_op_rx+0x1486/0x28c0 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_process_trailer.isra.0+0x2fb/0x620 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x448/0x830 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_recv_process_cb+0x549/0x9e0 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_per_engine_service+0xbe/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_ce_workqueue+0x69/0x120 [ath12k] process_one_work+0xe3a/0x1430 Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1 Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00284.1-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

5.5/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS Probability

0.14%

3.7th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-476

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions
Linux	Linux Kernel	>= 6.14, < 6.15.10
Linux	Linux Kernel	>= 6.16, < 6.16.1

References

Timeline

Published: Aug 19, 2025
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Analyzed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-38606?

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath12k: Avoid accessing uninitialized arvif->ar during beacon miss During beacon miss handling, ath12k driver iterates over active virtual interfaces (vifs) and attempts to access the radio object (ar) via arvif->deflink->ar. However, after commit aa80f12f3bed ("wifi: ath12k: defer vdev creation for MLO"), arvif is linked to a radio only after vdev creation, typically when a channel is assigned or a scan is requested. For P2P capable devices, a default P2P interface is created by wpa_supplicant along with regular station interfaces, these serve as dummy interfaces for P2P-capable stations, lack an associated netdev and initiate frequent scans to discover neighbor p2p devices. When a scan is initiated on such P2P vifs, driver selects destination radio (ar) based on scan frequency, creates a scan vdev, and attaches arvif to the radio. Once the scan completes or is aborted, the scan vdev is deleted, detaching arvif from the radio and leaving arvif->ar uninitialized. While handling beacon miss for station interfaces, P2P interface is also encountered in the vif iteration and ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter() tries to dereference the uninitialized arvif->deflink->ar. Fix this by verifying that vdev is created for the arvif before accessing its ar during beacon miss handling and similar vif iterator callbacks. ========================================================================== wlp6s0: detected beacon loss from AP (missed 7 beacons) - probing KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000010-0x0000000000000017] CPU: 5 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/5 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1-wt-ath+ #2 PREEMPT(full) RIP: 0010:ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss_iter+0xb5/0x1a0 [ath12k] Call Trace: __iterate_interfaces+0x11a/0x410 [mac80211] ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic+0x61/0x140 [mac80211] ath12k_mac_handle_beacon_miss+0xa1/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_roam_event+0x393/0x560 [ath12k] ath12k_wmi_op_rx+0x1486/0x28c0 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_process_trailer.isra.0+0x2fb/0x620 [ath12k] ath12k_htc_rx_completion_handler+0x448/0x830 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_recv_process_cb+0x549/0x9e0 [ath12k] ath12k_ce_per_engine_service+0xbe/0xf0 [ath12k] ath12k_pci_ce_workqueue+0x69/0x120 [ath12k] process_one_work+0xe3a/0x1430 Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.4.1-00199-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1 Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00284.1-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3

How severe is CVE-2025-38606?

CVE-2025-38606 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.14% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2025-38606?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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