CVE-2025-21729: linux Use After Free

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-21729 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 27-02-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 05-08-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtw89: fix race between cancel_hw_scan and hw_scan completion The rtwdev->scanning flag isn't protected by mutex originally, so cancel_hw_scan can pass the condition, but suddenly hw_scan completion unset the flag and calls ieee80211_scan_completed() that will free local->hw_scan_req. Then, cancel_hw_scan raises null-ptr-deref and use-after-free. Fix it by moving the check condition to where protected by mutex. KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000088-0x000000000000008f] CPU: 2 PID: 6922 Comm: kworker/2:2 Tainted: G OE Hardware name: LENOVO 2356AD1/2356AD1, BIOS G7ETB6WW (2.76 ) 09/10/2019 Workqueue: events cfg80211_conn_work [cfg80211] RIP: 0010:rtw89_fw_h2c_scan_offload_be+0xc33/0x13c3 [rtw89_core] Code: 00 45 89 6c 24 1c 0f 85 23 01 00 00 48 8b 85 20 ff ff ff 48 8d RSP: 0018:ffff88811fd9f068 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffff88811fd9f258 RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: 0000000000000011 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 0000000000000089 RBP: ffff88811fd9f170 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffff88811fd9f108 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88810e47f960 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 000000000000ffff R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8881d6f00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007531dfca55b0 CR3: 00000001be296004 CR4: 00000000001706e0 Call Trace: <TASK> ? show_regs+0x61/0x73 ? __die_body+0x20/0x73 ? die_addr+0x4f/0x7b ? exc_general_protection+0x191/0x1db ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x27/0x30 ? rtw89_fw_h2c_scan_offload_be+0xc33/0x13c3 [rtw89_core] ? rtw89_fw_h2c_scan_offload_be+0x458/0x13c3 [rtw89_core] ? __pfx_rtw89_fw_h2c_scan_offload_be+0x10/0x10 [rtw89_core] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xdb ? __pfx_do_raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 rtw89_hw_scan_offload+0xb5e/0xbf7 [rtw89_core] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0xe/0x24 ? __mutex_lock.constprop.0+0x40c/0x471 ? __pfx_rtw89_hw_scan_offload+0x10/0x10 [rtw89_core] ? __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x13/0x1f ? mutex_lock+0xa2/0xdc ? __pfx_mutex_lock+0x10/0x10 rtw89_hw_scan_abort+0x58/0xb7 [rtw89_core] rtw89_ops_cancel_hw_scan+0x120/0x13b [rtw89_core] ieee80211_scan_cancel+0x468/0x4d0 [mac80211] ieee80211_prep_connection+0x858/0x899 [mac80211] ieee80211_mgd_auth+0xbea/0xdde [mac80211] ? __pfx_ieee80211_mgd_auth+0x10/0x10 [mac80211] ? cfg80211_find_elem+0x15/0x29 [cfg80211] ? is_bss+0x1b7/0x1d7 [cfg80211] ieee80211_auth+0x18/0x27 [mac80211] cfg80211_mlme_auth+0x3bb/0x3e7 [cfg80211] cfg80211_conn_do_work+0x410/0xb81 [cfg80211] ? __pfx_cfg80211_conn_do_work+0x10/0x10 [cfg80211] ? __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x1f ? psi_group_change+0x8bc/0x944 ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x22 ? mutex_lock+0x8e/0xdc ? __pfx_mutex_lock+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx___radix_tree_lookup+0x10/0x10 cfg80211_conn_work+0x245/0x34d [cfg80211] ? __pfx_cfg80211_conn_work+0x10/0x10 [cfg80211] ? update_cfs_rq_load_avg+0x3bc/0x3d7 ? sched_clock_noinstr+0x9/0x1a ? sched_clock+0x10/0x24 ? sched_clock_cpu+0x7e/0x42e ? newidle_balance+0x796/0x937 ? __pfx_sched_clock_cpu+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_newidle_balance+0x10/0x10 ? __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x1f ? psi_group_change+0x8bc/0x944 ? _raw_spin_unlock+0xe/0x24 ? raw_spin_rq_unlock+0x47/0x54 ? raw_spin_rq_unlock_irq+0x9/0x1f ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x347/0x586 ? __schedule+0x27bf/0x2892 ? mutex_unlock+0x80/0xd0 ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xdb ? __pfx___schedule+0x10/0x10 process_scheduled_works+0x58c/0x821 worker_thread+0x4c7/0x586 ? __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x1f kthread+0x285/0x294 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x29/0x6f ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 </TASK>

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.