CVE-2025-38644

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.

A flaw in the Linux kernel’s mac80211 TDLS handling allowed unprivileged local users to trigger a WARN and potential kernel crash by issuing TDLS operations before the station had completed association. The bug arose because internal state such as the TDLS peer structure was assumed valid without being initialized.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.