From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-98916][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: nl80211: check link is beaconing for color change [ Upstream Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:55:40 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-98916 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: 1 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: unknown X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-98916 Priority: MODERATE REGULAR AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: wifi: nl80211: check link is beaconing for color change [ Upstream Commit: 51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98916 Analysis date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:55:40 -0400 ActionableScore: 1 ActionableScore lower bound: unknown Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate Manual review required: NO Summary: nl80211 could pass a color-change request for a non-beaconing link to the wireless driver, creating a constrained driver-failure risk without demonstrated memory corruption or authorization bypass. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98916 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98916 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-2026-98916 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98916 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE | AEGIS IMPACT MODERATE AEGIS_AS=0 LEGACY=MODERATE RESULT=SAME V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP=LOW->MODERATE (final reconciliation agrees; DECISION: both 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:L';*CWE-20;CWE-754;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '3.3';DESCR 'nl80211_color_change could accept a color change request for a link that was not beaconing and pass this invalid link state to the wireless driver. For the CVSS the PR:H base value is used because nl80211 AP configuration normally requires CAP_NET_ADMIN. For the CVSS the PR:L paranoid value covers environments where network administration is delegated to a container or service account, while an authorized local context is still required. The trigger is local and deterministic, but there is no demonstrated OOB access, UAF, information leak, arbitrary write, or kernel panic. The supported impact is limited availability degradation or a driver specific failure during the administrative operation. Automated impact decision path. The original SimpleNet classifier selected MODERATE_KPANIC. The primary LLM estimated paranoid CVSS 3.3 and the production ActionableScore returned 1 with recommendation Ordinary Moderate. The production rules then evaluated CVSS thresholds and ActionableScore thresholds. Recorded rule transitions were CVSS and initial triage stage MODERATE_KPANIC to MODERATE because the CVSS score, vector or bug class threshold rule was applied. ActionableScore thresholds stage MODERATE to LOW because the ActionableScore threshold rule was applied. final reconciliation stage LOW to MODERATE because KP specialist did not establish a qualifying panic and the cross model evidence reconciliation rule was applied. The legacy KP specialist has no review artifact for this run. The legacy FD or DH downgrade specialist has no review artifact for this run. Exact triggered rule markers were DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS and DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 and KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED and V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP and MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED. The independent weaker Aegis shadow evaluated CVSS 0.0 and ActionableScore 0 with primitive class NONE and manual review REQUIRED. Its independently reconciled impact was MODERATE. Cross model aggregation changed the production result under an enabled evidence gated merge rule. The final reported impact is MODERATE.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1) MAYBE REMOTE SIMPLEFIX DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED - - checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=1 PrimitiveClass=NONE RealUAF=NO HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN ImportantCandidate=NO ManualReview=NO AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES RequiresHostUID0=NO AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE B4PendingReview=NO B4PendingConfirmed=NO 1. ActionableScore * Raw base score: 1 * Conservative score: 1 * Raw paranoid score: 1 * Paranoid score: 1 * Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**:: No floor or cap changed the score. 2. Signal breakdown * +1 constrained availability concern: the vulnerable command can pass a non-beaconing link’s invalid state to the wireless driver, plausibly causing an operation or driver-specific failure. * No corruption points: the patch shows validation of `beacon_interval`, not an OOB access, UAF, stale lifetime operation, or write primitive. * No reliable-kernel-crash point: neither the patch nor supplied evidence establishes an Oops or panic. * No authorization-bypass points: this is an operational state precondition, not a capability or security-policy DENY-to-ALLOW error. * No confidentiality, integrity, remote-reachability, or LPE signals are shown. * No privilege penalty: host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established; uncertainty cannot justify `-2`. 3. Reachability analysis The trigger is a local nl80211 color-change request against an AP link. Such AP administration normally requires CAP_NET_ADMIN, but the supplied evidence does not resolve whether the relevant check is host-scoped or fully usable through delegated/network-namespace authority. Therefore, effective host-admin and complete namespace-scoped reachability remain unknown. Numeric host UID 0 is not inherently required because capability-bearing processes may issue nl80211 administration commands. The operation is deterministic and no race is shown. Wireless/AP configuration is required, but no rare-hardware penalty is supported. 4. Primitive and severity reading The exact defect is acceptance of a color-change operation for a link that is not beaconing, followed by invocation of the driver with inconsistent link state. This is validation of active configuration state, but no specific corrupted structured state, memory-safety primitive, protected-state change, or later dangerous consumer is demonstrated. The shown impact is limited to potential driver or administrative-operation availability degradation. B4-PENDING does not apply because no authorization guard is bypassed. 5. One-sentence report phrase nl80211 could pass a color-change request for a non-beaconing link to the wireless driver, creating a constrained driver-failure risk without demonstrated memory corruption or authorization bypass. 6. Manual review advice NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED The patch supports ordinary invalid-state validation with only limited availability impact. 7. Call-site confidence Call-site confidence: medium ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: nl80211: check link is beaconing for color change [ Upstream Commit: 51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a 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=51423d370739aa3f701fdfbfcc52ecf321dfd71a ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98916 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98916 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:L The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 3.3 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: unknown Paranoid ActionableScore: 1 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).