CVE-2025-20681
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn wlan AP driver, there is a possible out of bounds write due to an incorrect bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with User execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: WCNCR00416936; Issue ID: MSV-3446.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in WLAN AP driver where an incorrect bounds check allows out-of-bounds write operations. This enables local privilege escalation from user-level execution to elevated privileges without requiring additional user interaction.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 5.1.0.0= 19.07.0= 21.02.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the firmware or SDK platformCheck the system information or firmware metadata to determine if the device runs Mediatek Software Development Kit or OpenWRTAffected if The system is identified as Mediatek SDK or OpenWRT
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Check Mediatek SDK versionQuery the SDK version through the system build information or firmware metadata (typically found in /etc/version, system info UI, or bootloader output)Affected if The reported version is 5.1.0.0 or lower
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Check OpenWRT versionQuery the OpenWRT version using 'cat /etc/openwrt_version' or 'cat /etc/os-release'Affected if The version reports exactly 19.07.0 or 21.02.0
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Confirm WLAN AP driver presenceCheck if the WLAN AP driver module is loaded or present on the system (e.g., lsmod, modinfo, or check for wireless driver files in /lib/modules)Affected if A Mediatek or vendor-specific WLAN AP driver is installed and active
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Verify wireless access point functionality is enabledCheck if wireless AP mode is configured (review network configuration, hostapd status, or wireless interface settings)Affected if The device is configured as a wireless access point using the affected driver
A system is affected if it runs Mediatek SDK version 5.1.0.0 or lower, or OpenWRT version 19.07.0 or 21.02.0, and has the WLAN AP driver enabled with access point functionality active.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor patch WCNCR00416936 to affected WLAN AP driver implementations. Verify firmware/software versions against vendor advisory MSV-3446 and test wireless functionality post-patch.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20681 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-20681 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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