CVE-2025-38509 (GCVE-0-2025-38509)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-08-16 10:54 – Updated: 2026-05-11 21:29
VLAI
Title
wifi: mac80211: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths VHT operating mode notifications are not defined for channel widths below 20 MHz. In particular, 5 MHz and 10 MHz are not valid under the VHT specification and must be rejected. Without this check, malformed notifications using these widths may reach ieee80211_chan_width_to_rx_bw(), leading to a WARN_ON due to invalid input. This issue was reported by syzbot. Reject these unsupported widths early in sta_link_apply_parameters() when opmode_notif is used. The accepted set includes 20, 40, 80, 160, and 80+80 MHz, which are valid for VHT. While 320 MHz is not defined for VHT, it is allowed to avoid rejecting HE or EHT clients that may still send a VHT opmode notification.
Severity
5.5 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Affected: 751e7489c1d74b94ffffbed619d8fd724eeff4ee , < 18eca59a04500b68a90e0c5c873f97c9d1ea2bfa (git)
Affected: 751e7489c1d74b94ffffbed619d8fd724eeff4ee , < 58fcb1b4287ce38850402bb2bb16d09bf77b91d9 (git)
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Linux Linux Affected: 6.13
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.13 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.15.7 , ≤ 6.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.16 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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    "dateReserved": "2025-04-16T04:51:24.022Z",
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While 320 MHz is not defined\\nfor VHT, it is allowed to avoid rejecting HE or EHT clients that may\\nstill send a VHT opmode notification.\"},{\"lang\":\"es\",\"value\":\"En el kernel de Linux, se ha resuelto la siguiente vulnerabilidad: wifi: mac80211: rechazar el modo de operaci\u00f3n VHT para anchos de canal no compatibles. Las notificaciones del modo de operaci\u00f3n VHT no est\u00e1n definidas para anchos de canal inferiores a 20 MHz. En particular, 5 MHz y 10 MHz no son v\u00e1lidos seg\u00fan la especificaci\u00f3n VHT y deben rechazarse. Sin esta comprobaci\u00f3n, las notificaciones malformadas que utilicen estos anchos pueden alcanzar ieee80211_chan_width_to_rx_bw(), lo que genera un WARN_ON debido a una entrada no v\u00e1lida. Este problema fue reportado por syzbot. Rechace estos anchos no compatibles al principio de sta_link_apply_parameters() cuando se utilice opmode_notif. El conjunto aceptado incluye 20, 40, 80, 160 y 80+80 MHz, que son v\u00e1lidos para VHT. 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    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Important",
      "current_release_date": "2026-06-29T20:42:27+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2025-38509",
      "id": "CVE-2025-38509",
      "initial_release_date": "2025-08-16T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "198",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "76",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: wifi: mac80211: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2025/cve-2025-38509.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
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}



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Sightings

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Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


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