CVE-2025-38045

Local Wi-Fi device crash via misordered debug actions

Published Jun 18, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Improper debug-action ordering in affected Linux kernel iwlwifi builds allows local users to crash an Intel Wi-Fi device. The _iwl_dbg_tlv_time_point function applies debug configuration before running its time-point trigger, so firmware-reset actions can crash the device before the dump completes. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access and an affected iwlwifi configuration; the documented consequence is loss of Wi-Fi device availability.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper debug-action ordering in affected Linux kernel iwlwifi builds allows local users to crash an Intel Wi-Fi device. The _iwl_dbg_tlv_time_point function applies debug configuration before running its time-point trigger, so firmware-reset actions can crash the device before the dump completes. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access and an affected iwlwifi configuration; the documented consequence is loss of Wi-Fi device availability.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38045
Published
Jun 18, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.16
  2. Affected versionversion=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <181e8b56b74ad3920456dcdc8a361520d9007956
  3. Affected versionversion=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <2b790fe67ed483d86c1aeb8be6735bf792caa7e5
  4. Affected versionversion=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <328fbc96ecbee16c5fcbfcb3ac57b476f94da2f0
  5. Affected versionversion=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <eb29b4ffafb20281624dcd2cbb768d6f30edf600

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.16; version=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <181e8b56b74ad3920456dcdc8a361520d9007956; version=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <2b790fe67ed483d86c1aeb8be6735bf792caa7e5; version=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <328fbc96ecbee16c5fcbfcb3ac57b476f94da2f0; version=f21baf244112e646c6b6c9db94834cf06358db06 <eb29b4ffafb20281624dcd2cbb768d6f30edf600

Published CVSS scores

5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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