CVE-2025-38199
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-07-04
Last updated on: 2025-11-18
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-401 | The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's ath12k WiFi driver. Specifically, when the same WiFi station is added multiple times, the driver allocates memory for rx_stats each time without freeing the previous allocation. This redundant allocation causes memory to leak because the allocated memory is not properly released. The fix involves checking if rx_stats is already allocated before allocating again, preventing multiple allocations for the same station.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
The memory leak caused by this vulnerability can lead to increased memory usage over time, potentially degrading system performance or causing system instability or crashes if the leaked memory accumulates significantly. This can affect devices using the affected Qualcomm WiFi chipsets or Linux kernel versions with the vulnerable ath12k driver.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
To mitigate this vulnerability, update the Linux kernel or the affected Qualcomm drivers (ath12k) to a version where the memory leak due to multiple rx_stats allocations has been fixed. This involves ensuring that the patch preventing multiple allocations of rx_stats in ath12k_mac_station_add() is applied, which checks if rx_stats is already allocated before allocating again.