[CVE-2026-97511][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: mac80211: avoid out-of-bounds access in monitor [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL <alkernel@kernelcve.org>]

CVE: CVE-2026-97511
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: wifi: mac80211: avoid out-of-bounds access in monitor [ Upstream
Commit: 7f087f70e020b16a5b967332ee6e937817eaa173
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=7f087f70e020b16a5b967332ee6e937817eaa173
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97511
Analysis date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:58:33 -0400
ActionableScore: 2
ActionableScore lower bound: 1
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO

Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.

======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97511 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97511

The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.

The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.

Published priority for this report: MODERATE REGULAR
Manual review required: NO

A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.

======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================

CVE-2026-97511	MODERATE	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-97511 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE	Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H';CWE-125;CWE-129;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '5.3';DESCR 'An out of bounds access can occur in the mac80211 monitor radiotap transmit status path when a NAN frame uses NUM_NL80211_BANDS as info band. The value is a sentinel indicating that the transmit band is unknown, but it can be used as an index into the wiphy bands array and may cause an invalid pointer dereference. This can result in a kernel warning, Oops, or kernel crash and therefore a local denial of service. For the CVSS the PR:L value in the paranoid score reflects environments where a local user, container root, or service account has delegated network administration capabilities needed to configure NAN operation and a monitor interface. The issue is not shown to be directly network reachable because it is triggered through local wireless configuration and transmit status processing. Limited confidentiality impact is considered only for the paranoid score because malformed radiotap metadata could theoretically expose data from an invalid read. No write primitive, use after free, or privilege escalation path is established by the patch.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2)	YES	REMOTE OOB SIMPLEFIX  DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS_AND_CIANNH	NO	NO	checked

======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=2
ActionableScoreLower=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES

1. ActionableScore

* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1
* Raw paranoid score: 2
* Paranoid score: 2
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::

No floor or cap was applied.

2. Signal breakdown

Conservative signals:

* +1 Weak indirect corruption concern. `info->band` can equal the sentinel `NUM_NL80211_BANDS` and is used as an index into `wiphy->bands[]`. This is a concrete bounded out of bounds read and may dereference an invalid `ieee80211_supported_band` pointer.
* +1 Plausible kernel fault or DoS. The invalid array result is subsequently treated as a valid band object during transmit radiotap construction. An invalid pointer dereference can produce an Oops or kernel crash.
* -1 Highly constrained access. The invalid index is a fixed one-past-end sentinel value rather than an attacker-selected arbitrary index. No attacker-controlled target address, write, replacement, or reuse primitive is established.

Paranoid-only signal:

* +1 Limited confidentiality concern. The invalidly obtained band data is consumed while constructing monitor radiotap metadata. A narrow read-back path is therefore technically plausible, although the patch does not demonstrate stable disclosure of sensitive kernel data.

Important non-awarded signals:

* Controlled reclaim is not demonstrated.
* Arbitrary or directed kernel write is not demonstrated.
* Use after free is not present.
* Remote reachability is not established. The affected path is NAN transmit status and monitor radiotap generation, not ordinary incoming WiFi packet processing.
* Privilege escalation is not established.
* Structured stale-object leverage is not applicable.
* Additional Availability impact is not awarded because the possible Oops or crash is the only supported availability consequence.
* Strong confidentiality impact is not awarded. The patch establishes an invalid read but not a demonstrated useful data disclosure primitive.

3. Reachability analysis

The vulnerable operation is reached when mac80211 prepares transmit status radiotap information for a NAN frame whose band is unknown. NAN assigns `info->band = NUM_NL80211_BANDS`, and the monitor status path can then use this sentinel as an array index.

The complete trigger likely requires local control of relevant wireless functionality, including NAN operation and monitor interface availability. However, the supplied patch does not show the complete nl80211 capability checks, whether the relevant wireless device can be configured by a delegated service account, or whether all required operations work in an attacker-controlled network namespace.

Host-admin-equivalent privilege is therefore not positively established. Below-host-admin reachability is also not positively established for the complete sequence. `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN` and `NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN` are appropriate.

No prior firmware compromise is indicated. A compatible WiFi device and a mac80211 driver supporting the relevant NAN and monitor status path are required. This is a feature and hardware dependency, but the supplied evidence does not support a rare-hardware penalty.

This is not a race. The invalid sentinel index follows a deterministic NAN unknown-band state.

4. Primitive and severity interpretation

The exact primitive is a fixed out of bounds array access followed by possible invalid pointer dereference:

`local->hw.wiphy->bands[NUM_NL80211_BANDS]`

The sentinel is one past the valid `bands[]` range. The subsequent code treats the resulting value as an `ieee80211_supported_band` object when deriving legacy rate information for a monitor radiotap header.

This is not a UAF, lifetime violation, refcount issue, ownership violation, or write primitive. It is not an active structured-object reuse case. The most directly supported consequence is an invalid read or invalid pointer dereference causing warning, Oops, or local kernel DoS.

The paranoid interpretation allows limited confidentiality concern because rate-related data may be copied into radiotap output visible through a monitor interface. That possibility is narrow and not demonstrated as a reliable sensitive-data disclosure mechanism.

The issue is classified as CLASS_C because the established behavior is invalid-state handling and crash-capable out of bounds access without an independently useful corruption primitive. It is not an Important candidate. Automatic downgrade is allowed because no unresolved active-object lifetime, controlled corruption, authorization bypass, or meaningful exploitation leverage is established.

Likely operational severity is ordinary Moderate or Low-like depending on deployment access to NAN and monitor functionality.

5. One-sentence report phrase

A fixed out of bounds access in the mac80211 NAN monitor transmit status path can dereference an invalid band pointer and cause a local kernel Oops or denial of service, with only a limited unproven possibility of radiotap metadata disclosure.

6. Manual review recommendation

MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED

The patch fixes a concrete kernel out of bounds access, but the available evidence supports a constrained invalid-read and crash primitive rather than controlled memory corruption, privilege escalation, or remote exploitation.

7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: medium

======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: wifi: mac80211: avoid out-of-bounds access in monitor [ Upstream
Commit: 7f087f70e020b16a5b967332ee6e937817eaa173
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=7f087f70e020b16a5b967332ee6e937817eaa173

Changed files:
  net/mac80211/status.c

Diff excerpt:

Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.

Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=7f087f70e020b16a5b967332ee6e937817eaa173

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97511 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97511

The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.

The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.

The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.

Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:

  Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.3

The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.

CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.

A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.

  Conservative ActionableScore: 1
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 2

The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.

For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:

  ActionableScore below 5   -> MODERATE REGULAR
  ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0

The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.

There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).

KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.

AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE REGULAR

These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).

Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).