Vulnerability · Published Aug 16, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2025-38509wifi: mac80211: reject VHT opmode for unsupported channel widths

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 3% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 96.7% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.146.14.0-1017.17~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.146.14.0-1017.17~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.146.14.0-1020.21~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.146.14.0-1016.16UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.146.14.0-1017.17~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.146.14.0-36.36.1~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38509

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 751e7489c1d74b94ffffbed619d8fd724eeff4ee – before 18eca59a04500b68a90e0c5c873f97c9d1ea2bfa751e7489c1d74b94ffffbed619d8fd724eeff4ee – before 58fcb1b4287ce38850402bb2bb16d09bf77b91d9
Linux Linux 6.13

References