CVE-2025-21729: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtw89: fix race between cancel_hw_scan and hw

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 f

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:

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.24%, higher than 14% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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