---
id: CVE-2025-38642
title: 'wifi: mac80211: fix WARN_ON for monitor mode on some devices'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  wifi: mac80211: fix WARN_ON for monitor mode on some devices

  On devices without WANT_MONITOR_VIF (and probably without
  channel context support) we get a WARN_ON for ch…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 <
    ff15498ebaa49c5429a74e70a1951dede60cd14c
  - >-
    Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 <
    1e10ded6b0f9b0eeefaacbb6c6c6afff3f702812
  - >-
    Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 <
    c57e5b9819dfd16d709bcd6cb633301ed0829a66
  - Linux 6.13
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T21:05:42.558605Z'
published: '2025-08-22'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T21:12:50.324Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38642'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff15498ebaa49c5429a74e70a1951dede60cd14c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e10ded6b0f9b0eeefaacbb6c6c6afff3f702812'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c57e5b9819dfd16d709bcd6cb633301ed0829a66'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00164
epssPercentile: 0.05606
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:32.015Z'
---

## Overview

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

wifi: mac80211: fix WARN_ON for monitor mode on some devices

On devices without WANT_MONITOR_VIF (and probably without
channel context support) we get a WARN_ON for changing the
per-link setting of a monitor interface.

Since we already skip AP_VLAN interfaces and MONITOR with
WANT_MONITOR_VIF and/or NO_VIRTUAL_MONITOR should update
the settings, catch this in the link change code instead
of the warning.

## Affected

- `Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 < ff15498ebaa49c5429a74e70a1951dede60cd14c`
- `Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 < 1e10ded6b0f9b0eeefaacbb6c6c6afff3f702812`
- `Linux >= c4382d5ca1af75cf909463c7a707efd1a5f9a557 < c57e5b9819dfd16d709bcd6cb633301ed0829a66`
- `Linux 6.13`

## Remediation

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