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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-86193

| CVE-2026-93806 HIGH
2026-09-24 Linux GHSA-73rr-rqr3-fp7p
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
    Rogue AP within WiFi range
  2. Delivery
    Victim station initiates association
  3. Exploit
    Send truncated assoc-response frame
  4. Execution
    Trigger OOB read in cfg80211_rx_assoc_resp()
  5. Impact
    Kernel memory over-read or panic (DoS)

Vulnerability Assessment

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires the attacker to be within 802.11 radio range (adjacent network) and to inject or transmit a crafted, too-short association-response frame - including the S1G variant with its distinct IE offsets - to a Linux client while that client is performing association (e.g. by standing up a rogue AP the victim connects to or by spoofing the AP the victim is associating with). No authentication is required (the malformed frame is parsed on the connect/receive path before higher-layer auth completes), but exploitation is LIMITED to the association window and to the WiFi radio proximity; a target with WiFi disabled, not associating, or not on the vulnerable pre-patch kernel is unaffected. There is no remote-Internet reachability - the vector is strictly over-the-air.

Impact

This is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel cfg80211 layer: cfg80211_rx_assoc_resp() populates the status and response-IE fields of cfg80211_connect_resp_params from a received association-response management frame before validating that the frame is long enough to contain those offsets (the bug is aggravated by S1G vs. regular assoc-resp having different IE offsets, with the S1G path only patching resp_ie after the unsafe initializer ran). The NVD/Linux CVSS of 8.8 (AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/C:H/I:H/A:H) treats this as full triad compromise, which appears OVERSTATED for a read-only bounds violation - the realistic impact is a bounded kernel/skb memory over-read (small info leak) and, more probably, a kernel panic/DoS when the short frame is dereferenced, so the confidentiality/integrity claims of C:H/I:H are not well supported. Unlike the sibling iwlwifi OOB bugs (e.g. CVE-2026-93799/CVE-2026-93793) which are firmware→host gated and effectively local, this one is genuinely over-the-air: the frame is parsed on the WiFi receive path, so AV:A/PR:N is credible for a rogue AP. No EPSS, KEV, or public POC signal is present, so despite the ubiquity of the affected code there is no evidence of prioritized real-world exploitation; treat this as a patch-on-normal-cadence memory-safety hardening fix rather than an emergency. Key data gap: CWE is listed N/A in the input - it is really CWE-125 - and the impact metrics conflict with the read-only nature of the defect, which should be verified against the kernel commit.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker operating a rogue or spoofed access point within radio range of a target sends a crafted, truncated 802.11 association-response frame (or S1G assoc-resp) to a Linux station that is in the process of associating. cfg80211_rx_assoc_resp() reads the status and IE fields at offsets beyond the short frame, causing an out-of-bounds read that leaks adjacent kernel memory or, more likely, panics the kernel. No public exploit code has been identified at the time of analysis.

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 25, 2026

Out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel's cfg80211 wireless stack allows an attacker within 802.11 radio range to deliver a crafted, too-short association-response management frame - including the S1G variant with its distinct information-element offsets - which the client parses during the association window before frame length is validated, resulting in reads beyond the received buffer that can crash the kernel (availability impact) and expose limited adjacent memory. No authentication is required (CVSS PR:N) and no user interaction is needed, but exploitation is constrained to over-the-air proximity to a client that is actively associating on a vulnerable pre-patch kernel; a target with WiFi disabled or not associating is unaffected, there is no Internet reachability, and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. Vendor patches are available for the affected stable and mainline branches.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Linux 6.12.111, 6.18.53, or 7.2 (or later), which contain the length-validation fix; distributions should track their own kernel errata that backport commits b760113aeca2e9362d56bf9e9263373ffe6c8eb3, a57310600c1e2b9ada0f37c96e8f48aef47d3093, and 78ac450ad4624d6b2999cb4eeb28916767f81247 (see https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a57310600c1e2b9ada0f37c96e8f48aef47d3093, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/78ac450ad4624d6b2999cb4eeb28916767f81247, and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b760113aeca2e9362d56bf9e9263373ffe6c8eb3; NVD advisory https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-93806). Because exploitation is strictly over-the-air and limited to the association window, compensating controls are constrained: disable the WiFi interface when not in use (eliminates the attack surface entirely but removes wireless connectivity), avoid associating with untrusted, open, or unrecognised access points, and where feasible pin the client to known-good BSSIDs or use managed-network profiles so it does not attempt association with rogue APs (reduces but does not eliminate exposure to a spoofed AP). If the driver and regulatory domain permit, disabling S1G/sub-1 GHz operation avoids the S1G-specific IE-offset variant, at the cost of losing sub-1 GHz coverage; no other user-space mitigation fully prevents the malformed frame from reaching the vulnerable parser, so patching remains the primary remedy. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, so urgency is driven by the unauthenticated adjacency vector and the kernel-crash potential rather than observed in-the-wild activity.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux 0 <6.18.53
Linux patch: 6.12.111
Linux patch: 7.2
Linux 0 <6.12.111
Linux patch: 6.18.53
Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <b760113aeca2e9362d56bf9e9263373ffe6c8eb3
Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <a57310600c1e2b9ada0f37c96e8f48aef47d3093
Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <78ac450ad4624d6b2999cb4eeb28916767f81247

Affected Packages

euvd linux fix: 6.12.111, 6.18.53

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 flaw is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in cfg80211, the kernel's IEEE 802.11 configuration and management layer that sits below mac80211 and the wireless drivers. In cfg80211_rx_assoc_resp(), the status and response-IE (resp_ie/resp_ie_len) fields of struct cfg80211_connect_resp_params were initialised directly from the received association-response frame before the function confirmed that the frame was long enough to contain those offsets. The S1G (sub-1 GHz) association path uses a different IE offset than the regular path, but the code only reassigned resp_ie later, after the unsafe initialiser had already performed the out-of-bounds access. The fix defers assignment of resp_ie, resp_ie_len, and status until after the link-iteration loop, remembers with a bool whether the frame is S1G, validates the correct minimum length for each variant, and sets all three fields in a single if/else block; short-frame and SME-reject cleanup paths are funnelled through a shared free_bss label. The affected code has been present since the initial commit 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 and is fixed in commits b760113aeca2e9362d56bf9e9263373ffe6c8eb3, a57310600c1e2b9ada0f37c96e8f48aef47d3093, and 78ac450ad4624d6b2999cb4eeb28916767f81247. The CPE records identify the Linux kernel (cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux) as the affected product.

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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 7.1 HIGH

Over-the-air receive-path parsing gives AV:A/PR:N; crafting a short frame is trivial (AC:L); read-only OOB yields at most a small leak (C:L, I:N) with a likely kernel crash (A:H).

3.1 AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat 5.5 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 25, 2026 - 05:23 NVD
8.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Sep 24, 2026 - 17:03 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 24, 2026 - 16:02 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Sep 24, 2026 - 16:02 cve.org
HIGH 8.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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

wifi: cfg80211: validate assoc response length before status and IE access

cfg80211_rx_assoc_resp() initialises the status and response-IE fields of cfg80211_connect_resp_params from the management frame before proving that the frame is long enough for those offsets. S1G and regular association responses also have different IE offsets, but the S1G path only patched resp_ie after the unsafe initialiser had already run.

Defer resp_ie, resp_ie_len, and status to after the link-iteration loop. Use a bool to remember whether the frame is S1G, then validate the appropriate minimum length and set all three fields in a single if/else block. Funnel short-frame and SME-reject cleanup through a shared free_bss label for the abandon paths.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Linux kernel-based WiFi clients - including corporate laptops, mobile devices, and embedded or IoT endpoints - are exposed to a high-severity flaw in the cfg80211 wireless stack that an attacker within radio range can trigger during a routine network association, crashing the device and exposing a limited amount of adjacent memory. Because the attack needs only close physical proximity and no credentials or user action, risk concentrates in dense or publicly accessible spaces such as offices, conferences, transit hubs, warehouses, and customer-facing kiosks. Although there is no evidence of active exploitation or public exploit code, the very large installed base of unpatched kernels and the availability impact justify prioritized remediation.

Business Impact: Medium
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 87% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
cfg80211 is the core Linux WiFi stack present on virtually all wireless-capable Linux devices
Data Quality
4 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
Medium

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

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
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
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Affected

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