Bug 2391064 (CVE-2025-38513)

Summary: CVE-2025-38513 kernel: wifi: zd1211rw: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference in zd_mac_tx_to_dev()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-08-26 15:09:31 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: zd1211rw: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference in zd_mac_tx_to_dev()

There is a potential NULL pointer dereference in zd_mac_tx_to_dev(). For
example, the following is possible:

    	T0			    		T1
zd_mac_tx_to_dev()
  /* len == skb_queue_len(q) */
  while (len > ZD_MAC_MAX_ACK_WAITERS) {

					  filter_ack()
					    spin_lock_irqsave(&q->lock, flags);
					    /* position == skb_queue_len(q) */
					    for (i=1; i<position; i++)
				    	      skb = __skb_dequeue(q)

					    if (mac->type == NL80211_IFTYPE_AP)
					      skb = __skb_dequeue(q);
					    spin_unlock_irqrestore(&q->lock, flags);

    skb_dequeue() -> NULL

Since there is a small gap between checking skb queue length and skb being
unconditionally dequeued in zd_mac_tx_to_dev(), skb_dequeue() can return NULL.
Then the pointer is passed to zd_mac_tx_status() where it is dereferenced.

In order to avoid potential NULL pointer dereference due to situations like
above, check if skb is not NULL before passing it to zd_mac_tx_status().

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.