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CVE-2026-43213
wifi: rtw89: pci: validate sequence number of TX release report
Published 2026-05-06 (5 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-43213 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | vulnerable | 6.1.190-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication. |
| Debian 13trixie | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 6.19.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.19.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 6.19.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.19.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Hardware rarely reports abnormal sequence number in TX release report, which will access out-of-bounds of wd_ring->pages array, causing NULL pointer dereference. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 1 PID: 1085 Comm: irq/129-rtw89_p Tainted: G S U 6.1.145-17510-g2f3369c91536 #1 (HASH:69e8 1) Call Trace: <IRQ> rtw89_pci_release_tx+0x18f/0x300 [rtw89_pci (HASH:4c83 2)] rtw89_pci_napi_poll+0xc2/0x190 [rtw89_pci (HASH:4c83 2)] net_rx_action+0xfc/0x460 net/core/dev.c:6578 net/core/dev.c:6645 net/core/dev.c:6759 handle_softirqs+0xbe/0x290 kernel/softirq.c:601 ? rtw89_pci_interrupt_threadfn+0xc5/0x350 [rtw89_pci (HASH:4c83 2)] __local_bh_enable_ip+0xeb/0x120 kernel/softirq.c:499 kernel/softirq.c:423 </IRQ> <TASK> rtw89_pci_interrupt_threadfn+0xf8/0x350 [rtw89_pci (HASH:4c83 2)] ? irq_thread+0xa7/0x340 kernel/irq/manage.c:0 irq_thread+0x177/0x340 kernel/irq/manage.c:1205 kernel/irq/manage.c:1314 ? thaw_kernel_threads+0xb0/0xb0 kernel/irq/manage.c:1202 ? irq_forced_thread_fn+0x80/0x80 kernel/irq/manage.c:1220 kthread+0xea/0x110 kernel/kthread.c:376 ? synchronize_irq+0x1a0/0x1a0 kernel/irq/manage.c:1287 ? kthread_associate_blkcg+0x80/0x80 kernel/kthread.c:331 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:295 </TASK> To prevent crash, validate rpp_info.seq before using.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/pci.c
- What this is
- REALTEK WIRELESS DRIVER (rtw89)MAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/ · linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- rtw89_pci
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_RTW89|CONFIG_RTW89_PCI|CONFIG_WLAN|CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_REALTEK' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w rtw89_pciPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookwormMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64
- trixieMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, armel/rpi, s390x/s390x
- forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, s390x/s390x
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switches
- CONFIG_RTW89, CONFIG_RTW89_PCI, CONFIG_WLAN, CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_REALTEK
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-05-06 (5 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.5 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- adjacent network (AV:A)source
- EPSS
- 0.33%, higher than 24.0% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.16 | 6.18.16 | ef7fa19809b2 |
| 5.16 | 6.19.6 | b342dd13aedc |
| 5.16 | 7.0 | 957eda596c76 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:AAttack vector, adjacent network
- The vulnerable path is the rtw89 PCI WiFi TX release-report path reached from the device RPQ interrupt/NAPI handler after wireless transmissions. In AP or client deployments, an unauthenticated radio-range attacker can plausibly induce repeated TX completions by injecting or eliciting WiFi traffic.
- AC:HAttack complexity, high
- The code path is deterministic once a malformed release report with an out-of-range sequence number is produced. However, the malformed sequence is described as a rare hardware/firmware report and is not directly chosen by the attacker.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- In the adjacent WiFi attack scenario, the attacker does not need local accounts, capabilities, or authenticated access to the target host. Radio proximity is sufficient to stimulate the vulnerable TX completion path.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim action is required once the affected WiFi interface is active. The vulnerable processing occurs asynchronously in interrupt/NAPI context.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The impact remains within the kernel and the affected host. There is no VM escape, IOMMU bypass, or cross-authority boundary change.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The invalid 15-bit sequence number indexes past the 512-entry wd_ring->pages array and causes adjacent kernel memory to be interpreted as TX descriptor/list/queue state. Conservatively, this out-of-bounds kernel memory access can expose sensitive kernel memory even though the observed failure is a NULL dereference.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The out-of-bounds pseudo-TX descriptor can drive list, skb queue, DMA-unmap, status, and enqueue operations using invalid pointer fields. Conservatively, this kernel memory corruption can permit high-integrity impact.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The fix commit documents a kernel NULL pointer dereference and oops in rtw89_pci_release_tx from this bug. A kernel crash or panic is a high availability impact.