CVE-2025-38420Public exploit

System crash via uninitialized carl9170 workqueue

Published Jul 25, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Null-pointer dereference in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to crash the system through a carl9170 USB device. The firmware-failure path calls ieee80211_queue_work() before ieee80211_register_hw() has created its managed workqueue, dereferencing a null pointer. Triggering the fault requires local access to a USB device whose firmware load fails, and the resulting kernel crash interrupts the host.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Null-pointer dereference in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to crash the system through a carl9170 USB device. The firmware-failure path calls ieee80211_queue_work() before ieee80211_register_hw() has created its managed workqueue, dereferencing a null pointer. Triggering the fault requires local access to a USB device whose firmware load fails, and the resulting kernel crash interrupts the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38420
Published
Jul 25, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 25, 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

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=2.6.38
  2. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d
  3. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36
  4. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870
  5. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be
  6. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4
  7. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c
  8. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3
  9. Affected versionversion=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2.6.38; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3; version=e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a

Published CVSS scores

5.5CanonicalCVSS: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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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 exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

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

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo