CVE-2025-38605: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-38605 is a vulnerability discovered in the Linux kernel affecting the ath12k WiFi driver. The vulnerability was published on August 19, 2025, and involves a potential NULL pointer dereference in the ath12kdptxgetencap_type() function that could trigger a kernel panic (NVD).

The vulnerability occurs in the ath12kdptxgetencaptype() function where the arvif parameter is only used to retrieve the ab pointer. During the vdev delete sequence, the arvif->ar could become NULL, triggering a kernel panic. The issue manifests when the PC points to 'ath12kdptx+0x228/0x988 [ath12k]' and LR points to 'ath12kdptx+0xc8/0x988 [ath12k]'. The vulnerability was tested on QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.3.1-00173-QCAHKSWPLSILICONZ-1 hardware (NVD).

When exploited, this vulnerability can cause a kernel panic in the Linux system, leading to system instability and potential denial of service. The issue specifically affects systems using the ath12k WiFi driver (NVD).

The vulnerability has been resolved by modifying the code to pass the ab pointer directly to ath12kdptxgetencap_type() instead of dereferencing it through arvif, thus avoiding the potential NULL pointer dereference and subsequent kernel panic (NVD).