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CVE-2026-53178
staging: rtl8723bs: rtw_mlme: add bounds checks before ie_length subtraction
Published 2026-06-25 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/staging. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-53178 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 | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Add guards to ensure ie_length is large enough before subtracting fixed IE offsets to prevent unsigned integer underflow.
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/staging/rtl8723bs/core/rtw_mlme.c
- What this is
- STAGING SUBSYSTEMMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/staging/ · linux-staging@lists.linux.dev · Supported
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Not established. This site could not find the build rule for the affected file in the kernel trees Debian ships, so it has no answer about whether Debian compiles this code. Read that as unknown, never as absent.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid?
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
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
Signals
- Published
- 2026-06-25 (4 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 8.1 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- adjacent network (AV:A)source
- EPSS
- 0.22%, higher than 12.1% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/staging
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.15 | 6.18.52 | 637e0ea73f69 |
| 5.15 | 7.0.13 | 542d65a6dbd9 |
| 5.15 | 7.1 | 88e994c57a79 |
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 rtl8723bs path processes 802.11 beacon/probe response information from nearby WiFi radios during scan/join/roam handling, so the attacker must be within wireless range rather than on an IP network.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- An attacker can craft and transmit malformed management-frame data and trigger repeated scan/join candidate processing; no race or hard-to-control memory layout condition is required to reach the vulnerable IE walker.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- The over-the-air management frames are processed before any WiFi authentication with the attacker-controlled AP/BSS, so no local or authenticated privileges are required.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- Once the interface is scanning or attempting WPS/join/roam, the driver processes received management frames without a per-attack victim action.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The impact is within the kernel/driver security authority and does not cross a hypervisor, IOMMU, or separate security scope boundary.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The WPS path can underflow the IE length and pass a huge unsigned bound to `rtw_get_wps_ie`, causing an unbounded out-of-bounds kernel memory read.
- I:NIntegrity impact, none
- The affected calls only scan/compare IE bytes and do not copy attacker data into an out-of-bounds destination or provide an apparent write primitive.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The out-of-bounds kernel read can fault or otherwise destabilize the kernel driver, making a kernel crash/oops a plausible outcome.