---
id: CVE-2025-38644
title: 'wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated

  syzbot triggered a WARN in ieee80211_tdls_oper() by sending
  NL80211_TDLS_ENABLE_LINK immediately …
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    0c84204cf0bbe89e454a5caccc6a908bc7db1542
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    378ae9ccaea3f445838a087962a067b5cb2e8577
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    af72badd5ee423eb16f6ad7fe0a62f1b4252d848
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    4df663d4c1ca386dcab2f743dfc9f0cc07aef73c
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    31af06b574394530f68a4310c45ecbe2f68853c4
  - >-
    Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 <
    16ecdab5446f15a61ec88eb0d23d25d009821db0
  - Linux 3.17
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T21:05:46.844094Z'
published: '2025-08-22'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T21:12:50.470Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38644'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c84204cf0bbe89e454a5caccc6a908bc7db1542'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/378ae9ccaea3f445838a087962a067b5cb2e8577'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af72badd5ee423eb16f6ad7fe0a62f1b4252d848'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4df663d4c1ca386dcab2f743dfc9f0cc07aef73c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31af06b574394530f68a4310c45ecbe2f68853c4'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/16ecdab5446f15a61ec88eb0d23d25d009821db0'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00167
epssPercentile: 0.06023
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:32.003Z'
---

## Overview

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

wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated

syzbot triggered a WARN in ieee80211_tdls_oper() by sending
NL80211_TDLS_ENABLE_LINK immediately after NL80211_CMD_CONNECT,
before association completed and without prior TDLS setup.

This left internal state like sdata->u.mgd.tdls_peer uninitialized,
leading to a WARN_ON() in code paths that assumed it was valid.

Reject the operation early if not in station mode or not associated.

## Affected

- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < 0c84204cf0bbe89e454a5caccc6a908bc7db1542`
- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < 378ae9ccaea3f445838a087962a067b5cb2e8577`
- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < af72badd5ee423eb16f6ad7fe0a62f1b4252d848`
- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < 4df663d4c1ca386dcab2f743dfc9f0cc07aef73c`
- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < 31af06b574394530f68a4310c45ecbe2f68853c4`
- `Linux >= 81dd2b8822410e56048b927be779d95a2b6dc186 < 16ecdab5446f15a61ec88eb0d23d25d009821db0`
- `Linux 3.17`

## Remediation

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