From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-97517][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation [ Upstream Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:22:29 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-97517 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: MODERATE X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: NO X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 2 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: 1 X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-97517 Priority: MODERATE REGULAR AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation [ Upstream Commit: 6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97517 Analysis date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:22:29 -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-2026-97517 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97517 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-2026-97517 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-97517 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';*CWE-20;CWE-125;CWE-1284;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '5.5';DESCR 'A malformed HE Operation information element can be accepted during nl80211 access point configuration when its fixed part is present but its flag selected variable part is truncated. Later processing of the HE Operation data may then read beyond the supplied information element and can potentially cause a kernel crash depending on the affected cfg80211 or driver path. The issue is not directly reachable through normal over the air WiFi traffic because this code handles access point control plane configuration and beacon template data. For the CVSS the PR:L paranoid score assumes an attacker can access delegated network administration capabilities or a management service that passes attacker controlled AP configuration to nl80211. Impact is primarily denial of service. No confidentiality or integrity impact is confirmed because the patch does not demonstrate an information leak or write primitive.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2) YES REMOTE 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. The patch is primarily a validation-only fix. It establishes acceptance of a truncated variable-length HE Operation element, but does not itself demonstrate a concrete crash, disclosure, write, UAF, refcount error, or attacker-controlled corruption primitive. 2. Signal breakdown * +1 Weak indirect invalid-read concern. The HE Operation element was accepted when the fixed structure was present even if flag-selected variable fields were truncated. Later consumers may interpret fields beyond the supplied IE length. * +1 Paranoid only. A later cfg80211 or driver consumer may dereference the missing variable portion and fault, resulting in a local DoS. This is not counted as a demonstrated reliable crash. Important non-awarded signals: * Controlled reclaim not demonstrated. * Arbitrary or directed write not demonstrated. * UAF, stale lifetime reference, double free, and refcount mutation are not demonstrated. * Remote reachability is not established. The affected function processes AP configuration and beacon template data through nl80211 control-plane handling, not ordinary received WiFi frames. * Confidentiality is not awarded because no user-visible disclosure path is shown. * Integrity is not awarded because no write or security-boundary bypass is shown. * Strong LPE plausibility is not awarded because the patch establishes only insufficient input-length validation. * Reliable kernel crash is not awarded because no crash trace or concrete downstream vulnerable consumer is supplied. * No negative privilege penalty is applied because the exact complete privilege boundary is not proven. 3. Reachability analysis The affected code is `nl80211_calculate_ap_params`, which processes AP configuration parameters and information elements supplied through the nl80211 control plane. A normal remote WiFi station transmitting malformed management frames does not directly invoke this AP setup path. Creating or updating an AP beacon configuration normally involves nl80211 administrative operations and commonly requires `CAP_NET_ADMIN`. However, the supplied patch does not show the exact netlink policy checks, target network namespace ownership, wireless device ownership, or whether all required AP operations can be completed by an attacker with a namespace-scoped capability. Therefore: * Host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established. * Below-host-admin reachability is also not positively established. * Namespace-scoped complete trigger capability remains unresolved. * No special hardware, boot option, or race condition is shown. * The main prerequisite is access to an AP configuration path that accepts attacker-controlled beacon IEs. 4. Primitive and severity interpretation The exact primitive is malformed variable-length HE Operation IE acceptance. The fixed HE Operation structure is validated, but the variable size required by flags inside that structure was not previously checked before preserving `params->he_oper`. This is not a demonstrated memory-corruption primitive. The patch suggests that later parsing may access a variable part that is absent from the supplied element. That is best classified as an invalid-state or possible out-of-bounds-read concern, not as an established out-of-bounds read with disclosure, and not as a write primitive. There is no active structured-object UAF, fixed stale storage, destructor lifetime issue, or repeated release/refcount mutation. The demonstrated effect is insufficient validation of AP configuration data. A kernel crash is plausible if a downstream consumer dereferences absent data, but it is not established by the supplied patch context. `PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C` is appropriate because the practical concern is invalid-state processing and possible crash behavior rather than a meaningful corruption or ownership primitive. `ImportantCandidate=NO` and `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` are appropriate because no unresolved Class A or strong Class B exploitation leverage is established. Likely operational severity is Low to ordinary Moderate. Manual source review should identify consumers of `params->he_oper` and determine whether any read is bounded by the original IE length or can produce a reachable kernel fault. 5. One-sentence report phrase A truncated HE Operation information element could be accepted during nl80211 AP configuration, potentially allowing later cfg80211 or driver parsing to access missing variable-length data and cause a local denial of service. 6. Manual review recommendation MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED Review downstream consumers of `params->he_oper` to determine whether the pre-patch state reaches an actual out-of-bounds read, warning, or kernel crash, and confirm the capability and namespace scope required to configure the affected AP beacon data. 7. Call-site confidence Call-site confidence: low ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation [ Upstream Commit: 6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 Changed files: net/wireless/nl80211.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=6c4bb5450b9d9111faaaba581ea45a3a79844e50 ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97517 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97517 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:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.5 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).