# CVE-2025-38420: wifi: carl9170: do not ping device which has failed to load firmware

Status: published. Published: 2025-07-25. Updated: 2026-11-05.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: carl9170: do not ping device which has failed to load firmware

Syzkaller reports [1, 2] crashes caused by an attempts to ping
the device which has failed to load firmware. Since such a device
doesn't pass 'ieee80211_register_hw()', an internal workqueue
managed by 'ieee80211_queue_work()' is not yet created and an
attempt to queue work on it causes null-ptr-deref.

[1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=9a4aec827829942045ff
[2] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=0d8afba53e8fb2633217

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Linux / Linux: ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3 (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4 (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36 (affected, git); ≥ e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434; < 15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870 (affected, git). Source: CNA: Linux
- Linux / Linux: 2.6.38 (affected); ≥ 0; < 2.6.38 (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.4.295; ≤ 5.4.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.10.239; ≤ 5.10.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.15.186; ≤ 5.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.1.142; ≤ 6.1.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.6.95; ≤ 6.6.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.12.35; ≤ 6.12.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.15.4; ≤ 6.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.16; ≤ * (unaffected, original_commit_for_fix). Source: CNA: Linux

## Severity and prioritization

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.21% as of 2026-11-05; percentile 11.02%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: Not reported

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870 (CNA: Linux)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html (ADP: CVE)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html (ADP: CVE)

## Provenance

- CNA: Linux: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38420; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated 2026-11-05

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2025-38420; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated Not reported

Revision: 17150248ac1dbd346a50ce61acd02f0ed17e4babbeadbf2391a099961f06207c

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2025-38420

## Agent and API access

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- Y2 Pro or Elite: create a workspace API key with the intel:cyber scope and send Authorization: Bearer <Y2_API_KEY>. Setup: https://y2.dev/docs/api/create-key.

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- OpenAPI: https://y2.dev/api/openapi.yaml. Agent access metadata: https://y2.dev/cve/agent.json.

Collected public records only. Check source status for coverage and freshness.