---
id: CVE-2025-38420
title: 'wifi: carl9170: do not ping device which has failed to load firmware'
summary: |-
  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…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36
  - >-
    Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 <
    15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870
  - Linux 2.6.38
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T20:56:21.693137Z'
published: '2025-07-25'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T21:02:37.299Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38420'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00208
epssPercentile: 0.11013
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:31.968Z'
---

## Overview

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

## Affected

- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 0140d3d37f0f1759d1fdedd854c7875a86e15f8d`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 8a3734a6f4c05fd24605148f21fb2066690d61b3`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 527fad1ae32ffa2d4853a1425fe1c8dbb8c9744c`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < bfeede26e97ce4a15a0b961118de4a0e28c9907a`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 4e9ab5c48ad5153cc908dd29abad0cd2a92951e4`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 301268dbaac8e9013719e162a000202eac8054be`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 11ef72b3312752c2ff92f3c1e64912be3228ed36`
- `Linux >= e4a668c59080f862af3ecc28b359533027cbe434 < 15d25307692312cec4b57052da73387f91a2e870`
- `Linux 2.6.38`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.