CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98824

Low risk· EPSS 8%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.19%

8th percentile - higher than 8% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, minstrel_ht_tx_status() does not validate the rate metadata (MCS, spatial stream count, bandwidth) reported in TX status. Malformed metadata can be used as an out-of-bounds index into the rate tables, causing an out-of-bounds read.

Risk Assessment

May lead to mac80211 state corruption, system crash, or denial of service (especially with panic_on_warn) on Wi-Fi devices.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that validates rate metadata in the common TX status path before consumers use it.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: validate TX status rate metadata minstrel_ht_tx_status() converts the HT/VHT rate reported in a TX status into a group and rate index and uses those to index the minstrel_ht rate tables. The existing validation only checked that an entry was present and had tries recorded; it did not check that the reported MCS, spatial stream count and bandwidth are representable by the tables, so malformed metadata passed to minstrel_ht_get_stats() or minstrel_ht_ri_get_stats() could be used as an out-of-bounds index. Validate the rate metadata in the common TX status path instead of only in minstrel_ht, since the values are used by more than rate control. The legacy ieee80211_tx_rate array and the rate_info based entries are sanitized in ieee80211_tx_status_ext() and ieee80211_tx_rate_update() before any consumer runs: an entry that does not describe a valid rate for its encoding is dropped. minstrel_ht keeps the checks that depend on its own tables, i.e. the supported number of spatial streams, the MCS group size and the supported bandwidths. This does not take away the driver's responsibility to report sane values, it only prevents a single bad report from corrupting mac80211 state. No WARN_ON() is added: with panic_on_warn a driver bug would otherwise turn into a denial of service.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS