Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2025-40321

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Dec 8, 2025

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A wireless driver bug can cause the entire system to crash when certain network management messages arrive while running an access point.

Exploitation
Adjacent Network
Attacker needs
None
Complexity
Low
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Memory Corruption
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

NULL pointer dereference in brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame when brcmfmac attempts to transmit Action frames using an uninitialized P2P vif pointer in hostapd-managed standalone AP mode.

Why it matters to the business

Wireless access point functionality becomes unavailable after a kernel crash triggered by receiving certain management frames, causing service interruption on affected Linux systems using Broadcom WiFi hardware.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker within range sends an ANQP Query Request Action frame to a hostapd-managed AP; the driver receives the frame via cfg80211, calls into brcmf_cfg80211_mgmt_tx, then brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame dereferences a NULL P2P vif pointer and crashes the kernel.

How to fix it

Apply the upstream fix commit c863b9c7b4e9af0b7931cb791ec91971a50f1a25 or later stable kernel versions containing the corrected vif selection logic and init_completion placement in brcmfmac.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm the brcmfmac module reports the fixed commit or version string after upgrade; test by sending ANQP Query frames to a hostapd-managed AP and verify no kernel NULL dereference occurs.

Typical attack path

  1. Attacker transmits ANQP Query REQ Action frame to target AP
  2. hostapd processes the frame and requests management frame transmission
  3. brcmfmac driver selects uninitialized P2P vif for the actframe IOVAR
  4. NULL pointer dereference occurs in brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame
  5. Kernel oops and driver crash follow

How to detect it

Review kernel logs for NULL pointer dereference call traces containing brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame, brcmf_cfg80211_mgmt_tx, and netlink sendmsg paths; correlate with hostapd activity around the timestamp of the crash.

  • brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame+0x23c/0xc58 [brcmfmac]
  • Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000
  • Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel updates on systems running hostapd with brcmfmac hardware
  • Monitor for kernel oops involving brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame
  • Disable unnecessary Action frame handling if immediate patching is delayed

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: brcmfmac: fix crash while sending Action Frames in standalone AP Mode Currently, whenever there is a need to transmit an Action frame, the brcmfmac driver always uses the P2P vif to send the "actframe" IOVAR to firmware. The P2P interfaces were available when wpa_supplicant is managing the wlan interface. However, the P2P interfaces are not created/initialized when only hostapd is managing the wlan interface. And if hostapd receives an ANQP Query REQ Action frame even from an un-associated STA, the brcmfmac driver tries to use an uninitialized P2P vif pointer for sending the IOVAR to firmware. This NULL pointer dereferencing triggers a driver crash. [ 1417.074538] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 [...] [ 1417.075188] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.5 (DT) [...] [ 1417.075653] Call trace: [ 1417.075662] brcmf_p2p_send_action_frame+0x23c/0xc58 [brcmfmac] [ 1417.075738] brcmf_cfg80211_mgmt_tx+0x304/0x5c0 [brcmfmac] [ 1417.075810] cfg80211_mlme_mgmt_tx+0x1b0/0x428 [cfg80211] [ 1417.076067] nl80211_tx_mgmt+0x238/0x388 [cfg80211] [ 1417.076281] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xe0/0x158 [ 1417.076302] genl_rcv_msg+0x220/0x2a0 [ 1417.076317] netlink_rcv_skb+0x68/0x140 [ 1417.076330] genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 [ 1417.076343] netlink_unicast+0x330/0x3b8 [ 1417.076357] netlink_sendmsg+0x19c/0x3f8 [ 1417.076370] __sock_sendmsg+0x64/0xc0 [ 1417.076391] ____sys_sendmsg+0x268/0x2a0 [ 1417.076408] ___sys_sendmsg+0xb8/0x118 [ 1417.076427] __sys_sendmsg+0x90/0xf8 [ 1417.076445] __arm64_sys_sendmsg+0x2c/0x40 [ 1417.076465] invoke_syscall+0x50/0x120 [ 1417.076486] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x48/0xf0 [ 1417.076506] do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38 [ 1417.076525] el0_svc+0x30/0x100 [ 1417.076548] el0t_64_sync_handler+0x100/0x130 [ 1417.076569] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198 [ 1417.076589] Code: f9401e80 aa1603e2 f9403be1 5280e483 (f9400000) Fix this, by always using the vif corresponding to the wdev on which the Action frame Transmission request was initiated by the userspace. This way, even if P2P vif is not available, the IOVAR is sent to firmware on AP vif and the ANQP Query RESP Action frame is transmitted without crashing the driver. Move init_completion() for "send_af_done" from brcmf_p2p_create_p2pdev() to brcmf_p2p_attach(). Because the former function would not get executed when only hostapd is managing wlan interface, and it is not safe to do reinit_completion() later in brcmf_p2p_tx_action_frame(), without any prior init_completion(). And in the brcmf_p2p_tx_action_frame() function, the condition check for P2P Presence response frame is not needed, since the wpa_supplicant is properly sending the P2P Presense Response frame on the P2P-GO vif instead of the P2P-Device vif. [Cc stable]

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Linux Kernel 3.9.0 5.4.302
Mageia:9 kernel 0 6.6.120-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kernel-linus 0 6.6.120-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-virtualbox 0 7.1.14-14.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-xtables-addons 0 3.24-88.mga9
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_19 0 1-150600.13.3.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-debug 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1.150600.12.38.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.84.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 dtb-aarch64 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-64kb 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-azure 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default-base 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1.160000.2.6
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-docs 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-build 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-rt 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-source 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-syms 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.12.0-160000.9.1

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