CVE-2025-38157
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's ath9k_htc Wi-Fi driver. A malicious Universal Serial Bus (USB) device can send a specific event (WMI_SWBA_EVENTID) before the Wi-Fi beaconing feature is enabled. This can lead to a critical error within the driver, potentially causing the system to crash (Denial of Service) or allowing an attacker to read sensitive information from memory (information disclosure).
Statement
This flaw is being treated as a Moderate Impact flaw, which leads to a Denial Of Service threat with a normal user. This vulnerability could even lead to a kernel information leak problem with a special group access privilege.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, prevent the `ath9k_htc` kernel module from loading. This can be achieved by blacklisting the module.
Create a file named `/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath9k_htc.conf` with the following content:
blacklist ath9k_htc
Then, regenerate the initramfs to apply the change:
bash
dracut -f
A system reboot is required for this change to take effect. This mitigation will disable any functionality provided by the `ath9k_htc` module, which may impact WiFi connectivity if this specific hardware is in use.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.4 | 7.8 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Adjacent Network | Local | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | Low | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | High | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | High | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
An attacker could get secret values such as cryptographic keys, PII, memory addresses, or other information that could be used in additional attacks.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Out-of-bounds memory could contain memory addresses or other information that can be used to bypass ASLR and other protection mechanisms in order to improve the reliability of exploiting a separate weakness for code execution.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An attacker could cause a segmentation fault or crash by causing memory to be read outside of the bounds of the buffer. This is especially likely when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string.
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
The read operation could produce other undefined or unexpected results.
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