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CVE-2026-68471
wifi: ieee80211: validate MLE common info length
Published 2026-08-15 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem include/linux. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-68471 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 | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
ieee80211_mle_common_size() uses the first common-info octet as the common information length for all known MLE types. However, ieee80211_mle_size_ok() only validates that octet for Basic, Probe Request, and TDLS MLEs. Reconfiguration MLEs also skipped the length octet when calculating the minimum common size, and Priority Access MLEs skipped validation of the advertised common information length. Account for the Reconfiguration common-info length octet and validate the advertised common information length for all known MLE types. Keep unknown-type handling unchanged. [remove now misleading comment]
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.
include/linux/ieee80211-eht.h
- What this is
- THE RESTMAINTAINERS section matched on */ · linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org · Buried alive in reporters
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
- 2026-08-15 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 8.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- adjacent network (AV:A)source
- EPSS
- 0.31%, higher than 22.8% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- include/linux
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | 6.18.40 | 90576bd6921a |
| 6.0 | 7.1.5 | 2b1589fd9a07 |
| 6.0 | 7.2 | 293baeae9b24 |
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
- Reachable by transmitting crafted 802.11 management frames (probe responses, beacons, protected EHT action frames) over WiFi; the mac80211/cfg80211 stack parses Multi-Link Elements on receive without requiring local access.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- An adjacent attacker fully controls the MLE common-info length octet in forged frames and can reliably pass ieee80211_mle_size_ok() with an inflated value, triggering deterministic out-of-bounds parsing during routine scan or beacon processing.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- No local privileges or association are required; a rogue AP or frame injector can deliver malicious MLEs to any scanning or MLD-associated station via standard pre-authentication WiFi management traffic.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- Exploitation requires only passive reception of attacker-supplied WiFi frames during background scanning or normal beacon/action-frame handling; no victim interaction beyond having WiFi enabled.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- Impact is kernel heap out-of-bounds access within the WiFi stack on the victim host; it does not cross a VM, IOMMU, or sandbox security boundary to another authority.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- Inflated common_len makes ieee80211_mle_common_size() exceed the element buffer, causing for_each_element/cfg80211_defragment_element to read beyond the skb or kmalloc allocation, enabling unbounded kernel memory disclosure.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The length underflow and out-of-bounds element iteration constitute exploitable kernel memory corruption; subsequent defragmentation and nested ie parsing can leverage corrupted pointers for arbitrary write primitives.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Out-of-bounds reads of unmapped or non-element memory during MLE sub-element iteration can trigger a kernel oops or panic, remotely denying service to any WiFi-enabled device in range.