CVE-2025-21440
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 · uneditedMemory corruption when IOCTL call is invoked from user-space to write board data to WLAN driver.
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in WLAN driver IOCTL handler. When user-space applications invoke a specific IOCTL call to write board data to the WLAN driver, insufficient input validation allows corruption of kernel memory, potentially leading to privilege escalation.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 WLAN hardware and firmware versionRun commands such as 'lspci | grep -i network' or 'iw list' for PCIe/USB wireless adapters, or check system logs/dmesg for Qualcomm wireless device enumeration. For embedded devices, inspect /proc/ath10k_version or similar firmware version files if available.Affected if The system contains any of the following: Qualcomm Aqt1000, Fastconnect 6200/6700/6800/6900/7800, or Qca1062/1064 firmware.
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Confirm the IOCTL handler is presentCheck if the WLAN driver module is loaded (lsmod | grep -i ath/qca/wlan) and whether the IOCTL interface exists in /dev/ or through netlink sockets. Use 'ls -la /dev/*wlan*' or inspect driver sysfs entries under /sys/class/net/Affected if The Qualcomm WLAN driver is loaded and the IOCTL interface for board data writes is exposed to user-space.
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Monitor for board data IOCTL callsUse system call tracing tools such as 'strace' on suspicious applications, or enable kernel auditing for IOCTL calls (auditctl -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S ioctl). Capture and inspect the IOCTL numbers being invoked.Affected if Unusual or unauthorized IOCTL calls related to board data writing are observed originating from user-space applications.
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Check for kernel memory corruption indicatorsReview kernel logs (dmesg, /var/log/kern.log) for signs of memory corruption, kernel oops, or panics related to the WLAN driver. Look for messages containing 'ath10k', 'qcacld', or 'WLAN' paired with 'corruption' or 'BUG'.Affected if Kernel logs show memory corruption, heap overflow, or invalid memory access errors originating from the WLAN driver subsystem.
A system is affected if it contains any of the listed Qualcomm wireless chipsets (Aqt1000, Fastconnect 6200/6700/6800/6900/7800, Qca1062/1064) and the vulnerable IOCTL interface for writing board data is accessible to user-space applications.
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-supplied patches for the WLAN driver. Until patch is available, restrict access to the vulnerable IOCTL interface and monitor for suspicious IOCTL calls from user-space.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-21440 — 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-2025-21440 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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