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Linux Kernel mt76 EUVDEUVD-2026-82040

| CVE-2026-90379 HIGH
2026-09-17 Linux GHSA-qfcx-6cpx-wgv3
8.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Local system with mt7921e adapter
  2. Delivery
    PCIe AER/bus-hung error occurs
  3. Exploit
    Register reads return 0xFFFFFFFF
  4. Execution
    Invalid DMA index corrupts queue head/tail
  5. Persist
    OOB access to q->desc[]/q->entry[]
  6. Impact
    Kernel paging-request oops (DoS)

Vulnerability Assessment

Exploitation Conditions

Requires a system running the Linux kernel MediaTek mt76/mt7921e Wi-Fi driver (mt7921e PCIe adapter) AND the occurrence of a PCIe AER error that hangs the bus, causing register reads to return 0xFFFFFFFF. The crash path is entered through the driver's MAC-reset recovery (mt7921_mac_reset_work → mt7921e_mac_reset → mt7921_wpdma_reset → mt76_dma_rx_reset). Key limiting factors: the trigger is a physical/hardware PCIe fault condition, not a software-controllable input, so there is no described attacker-controlled or remote/adjacent path to induce it on demand; exploitation is confined to the local machine and to the specific mt7921e PCIe deployment. This is fundamentally a fault-tolerance failure, and the description notes affected devices may not recover even after the fix due to hardware limitations.

Impact

This is a robustness/reliability fix in the Linux kernel MediaTek mt76/mt7921e Wi-Fi driver, not an attacker-driven memory-corruption vulnerability. The root cause is a PCIe Advanced Error Reporting (AER) event: when the PCIe bus hangs, register reads return 0xFFFFFFFF, and that value is used as a DMA queue index, corrupting q->head/q->tail and causing an out-of-bounds access to q->desc[]/q->entry[] (kernel paging-request oops in mt76_dma_add_buf, reached via the mt7921 MAC reset path). The vendor CVSS of 8.8 with AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/C:H/I:H/A:H is significantly overstated and internally inconsistent with the description: the trigger is a hardware fault (bus hang from a PCIe error), NOT an adjacent-network attacker action, so AV:A is not justified, and there is no confidentiality/integrity primitive described - the observable outcome is a crash (DoS). The description itself even notes the device may not fully recover due to hardware limits (no reset pin, no re-probe), underscoring this is fault-tolerance hardening. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit are present in the input; exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' Realistic priority is LOW: there is no clear remote/adjacent attacker path to induce the AER condition on demand, and the impact is limited to a local crash. My independent assessment lands around 3.5-4.0. Note the CVSS vector claims adjacent-network attacker impact while the description clearly implies a local PCIe hardware error condition - this discrepancy should be verified with the vendor.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A PCIe AER (bus) error occurs on a system with a MediaTek mt7921e Wi-Fi adapter; register reads begin returning 0xFFFFFFFF, which is consumed as a DMA queue index during the driver's MAC-reset recovery path, causing an out-of-bounds descriptor access and a kernel crash (denial of service). No public exploit exists, and there is no described mechanism for a network or adjacent attacker to reliably induce the underlying PCIe bus-hung condition on demand - it is primarily a fault-tolerance failure rather than a controllable attack.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 18, 2026

An out-of-bounds memory access in the Linux kernel's MediaTek mt76/mt7921e PCIe Wi-Fi driver can crash (kernel panic / denial of service) the local machine when a PCIe Advanced Error Reporting (AER) fault hangs the bus and register reads return 0xFFFFFFFF. The affected code is the mt7921e MAC-reset recovery path (mt7921_mac_reset_work -> mt7921e_mac_reset -> mt7921_wpdma_reset -> mt76_dma_rx_reset), which trusts the bogus DMA queue index and dereferences q->desc[]/q->entry[] out of range. Impact is limited to a local denial of service on systems that ship this driver and actually experience a hardware PCIe fault - this is a fault-tolerance defect, not an attacker-steerable memory-corruption issue - and no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Vendor-released patch: Linux 6.18.52, 7.2.6, and 7.3-rc1.

RemediationAI

Apply the vendor-released kernel patch by upgrading to Linux 6.18.52, Linux 7.2.6, or Linux 7.3-rc1 (or later), or have your distribution backport the upstream fixes 915672c5ae32deeb72f4572856d123f314791136, f544bcba4721e1074e9bc6666f0ef4f8b96ddba8, and 670b3dc4e3713542a9f002d38fb9d1740b9e342b from the kernel stable trees (see https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/670b3dc4e3713542a9f002d38fb9d1740b9e342b and https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90379 for the current advisory trail). Because the trigger is a local PCIe hardware fault rather than an attacker-supplied input, exposure reduction is the practical interim control: blacklist or unbind the mt7921e module (modprobe.blacklist=mt7921e or removing the device from PCI enumeration) to eliminate the crash path entirely, at the cost of losing that Wi-Fi interface, or disable PCIe AER reporting for the affected bridge/device (pci=noaer or per-device AER control) to avoid entering the hung-bus recovery sequence - with the trade-off that genuine hardware errors will then go unreported and the device may still misbehave silently. Note that the patch also hardens the recovery path, but per the description affected Wi-Fi devices may still not fully recover to a normal operational state after certain errors due to hardware limitations (no hardware reset pin, no host re-probe), so a full power cycle / re-probe of the adapter may remain necessary after an AER event even on patched kernels. No public exploit code has been identified, and exploitation requires high privileges (per the assessed CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H vector), so remediation should be prioritised as a reliability/stability fix rather than an urgent remote-threat patch.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux 4.16
Linux 17f1de56df051229988aab37e01971c9713c4a31 <915672c5ae32deeb72f4572856d123f314791136
Linux 17f1de56df051229988aab37e01971c9713c4a31 <f544bcba4721e1074e9bc6666f0ef4f8b96ddba8
Linux patch: 7.3-rc1
Linux patch: 0
Linux 17f1de56df051229988aab37e01971c9713c4a31 <670b3dc4e3713542a9f002d38fb9d1740b9e342b
Linux patch: 7.2.6
Linux patch: 6.18.52

Affected Packages

euvd linux no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerable component is the MediaTek mt76 DMA layer as used by the mt7921e (mt7921 PCIe) Wi-Fi adapter driver in the Linux kernel. mt76 maintains DMA queues described by ring descriptors (q->desc[]) and a head/tail/entry index pair; on RX refill and reset, the driver reads hardware DMA indices back from device registers and uses them to index those arrays. When a PCIe bus error triggers AER and the link hangs, MMIO reads return the classic 0xFFFFFFFF 'all ones' value; that value is consumed as a queue index, corrupting q->head/q->tail and producing an invalid page-table access, as shown by the reported trace in mt76_dma_add_buf / mt76_dma_rx_reset / mt7921_wpdma_reset. No CWE was assigned by the source, but the root-cause class is improper validation of an untrusted array index (out-of-bounds index handling) combined with missing fault detection: the code was previously unaware that the bus was hung. The fix (upstream commits 915672c5ae32deeb72f4572856d123f314791136, f544bcba4721e1074e9bc6666f0ef4f8b96ddba8 and 670b3dc4e3713542a9f002d38fb9d1740b9e342b) clamps out-of-range DMA indices, checks the bus_hung flag before attempting a MAC reset, rejects MCU messages while the bus is hung, and installs no-op bus operations after an unrecoverable AER error. CPE records identify the affected platform as cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux (the kernel), with the flawed logic introduced around commit 17f1de56df051229988aab37e01971c9713c4a31 (kernel 4.16 era). The independent assessment rates this CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - a local, high-privilege-triggered availability-only issue - rather than the more aggressive adjacent-network availability/confidentiality/integrity vector reported alongside the CVE, because the trigger is a physical/hardware fault condition rather than a remotely reachable input. Note also that affected hardware may not fully recover to a normal operational state even with the fix due to missing hardware reset pins or host re-probe capability.

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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY 8.8 HIGH
AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 4.1 MEDIUM

Trigger is a local PCIe AER hardware fault, not an attacker-controllable adjacent-network input, so AV:L/AC:H and PR:H; impact is a kernel crash only, hence C:N/I:N/A:H.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE 4.2 MEDIUM
AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat 4.8 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Adjacent
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
CVSS changed
Sep 18, 2026 - 18:22 NVD
8.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Sep 17, 2026 - 17:19 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 17, 2026 - 16:09 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Sep 17, 2026 - 16:09 cve.org
HIGH 8.8

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: mt76: mt7921: Add PCIe AER handler support to prevent system crash

When an AER error occurs and the bus is hung, the register reads return 0xFFFFFFFF, causing the DMA queue state to be corrupted and resulting in an invalid memory access when accessing q->desc[] or q->entry[].

Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffffffc01099eac0 pc : mt76_dma_add_buf+0x124/0x188 [mt76] lr : mt76_dma_rx_fill+0x11c/0x1d8 [mt76] sp : ffffffc016d9bbf0 x29: ffffffc016d9bc10 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: ffffffb7855e50b8 x25: ffffffb80d04f000 x24: 0000000000000000 x23: 0000000000000ec0 x22: ffffffb796803648 x21: ffffffb796801f80 x20: ffffffb7968035f8 x19: 0000000000000ec0 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 000000004ec00000 x16: 000000000ec00000 x15: ffffffc01099eac0 x14: 000000004ec00000 x13: 00000000ffc5a000 x12: ffffffc016d9bc32 x11: 00000000ffffffff x10: 0000000000000002 x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : 000000000000b4ac x7 : 0000000000000a20 x6 : ffffffb6c1806400 x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : ffffffb80d04f000 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000001 x1 : 000000000ec04000 x0 : ffffffb7968035f8 Call trace: mt76_dma_add_buf+0x124/0x188 [mt76 (HASH:1029 4)] mt76_dma_rx_reset+0xe8/0xfc [mt76 (HASH:1029 4)] mt7921_wpdma_reset+0x188/0x1b0 [mt7921e (HASH:ee48 5)] mt7921e_mac_reset+0x128/0x418 [mt7921e (HASH:ee48 5)] mt7921_mac_reset_work+0xac/0x1a8 [mt7921_common (HASH:f721 6)] process_one_work+0x188/0x514 worker_thread+0x12c/0x300 kthread+0x140/0x1fc ret_from_fork+0x10/0x30

Fix the invalid memory access by validating the DMA index read from the hardware before it is used as a queue index. An out-of-range value, such as the 0xFFFFFFFF returned while the bus is hung, is now clamped so it can no longer corrupt q->head or q->tail. In addition, check the bus_hung flag in mt7921_mac_reset_work() before attempting the reset sequence, reject MCU messages while the bus is hung, and install no-op bus operations when an unrecoverable AER error is detected, preventing further invalid hardware accesses.

Due to hardware limitations - such as the lack of a connected hardware reset pin or the absence of host re-probe functionality - affected Wi-Fi devices may not fully recover to a normal operational state after certain errors, even with AER enabled.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A fault-tolerance flaw in the Linux kernel's MediaTek mt7921e PCIe Wi-Fi driver can cause a local kernel panic and denial of service on affected machines when a hardware PCIe error occurs. This is not a remotely exploitable or attacker-steerable issue, and no public exploit identified at time of analysis; however, unpatched systems with this Wi-Fi hardware may experience unexpected outages until the vendor kernel fix is deployed. Leadership should care because a small but identifiable set of mobile or edge devices could become unavailable during hardware faults, creating support and continuity costs if fleets are not patched.

Business Impact: Low
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 94% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
MediaTek mt7921 is a common WiFi6 chipset in consumer/budget laptops
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Controlled
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
Low

Priority Score

44
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
openSUSE Tumbleweed Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected

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