{"id":"CVE-2026-98824","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-98824"],"related":[],"title":"Linux kernel: malformed Wi-Fi TX status can index out of bounds","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: validate TX status rate metadata\n\nminstrel_ht_tx_status() converts the HT/VHT rate reported in a TX status\ninto a group and rate index and uses those to index the minstrel_ht rate\ntables.  The existing validation only checked that an entry was present\nand had tries recorded; it did not check that the reported MCS, spatial\nstream count and bandwidth are representable by the tables, so malformed\nmetadata passed to minstrel_ht_get_stats() or\nminstrel_ht_ri_get_stats() could be used as an out-of-bounds index.\n\nValidate the rate metadata in the common TX status path instead of only\nin minstrel_ht, since the values are used by more than rate control.\nThe legacy ieee80211_tx_rate array and the rate_info based entries are\nsanitized in ieee80211_tx_status_ext() and ieee80211_tx_rate_update()\nbefore any consumer runs: an entry that does not describe a valid rate\nfor its encoding is dropped.  minstrel_ht keeps the checks that depend\non its own tables, i.e. the supported number of spatial streams, the MCS\ngroup size and the supported bandwidths.\n\nThis does not take away the driver's responsibility to report sane\nvalues, it only prevents a single bad report from corrupting mac80211\nstate.  No WARN_ON() is added: with panic_on_warn a driver bug would\notherwise turn into a denial of service.","summary":"In the Linux kernel's mac80211 Wi-Fi stack, rate metadata reported in a transmit status was not validated before minstrel_ht used it as a table index. A malformed report can cause an out-of-bounds read or write in kernel memory.","severity":"unknown","cvss":null,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["kernel","linux","mac80211","runtime","self-hosted","wifi"],"not_affected_if":["no-wifi-hardware"],"how_to_check":"- unknown","fix":"- unknown","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:36+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:17+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-25T05:14:40+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-25T05:14:40+00:00","category":"runtime","confidence":0.5,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-25T05:14:40Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- unknown","reach":"local","title":"Linux kernel: malformed Wi-Fi TX status can index out of bounds","impact":"high","summary":"In the Linux kernel's mac80211 Wi-Fi stack, rate metadata reported in a transmit status was not validated before minstrel_ht used it as a table index. A malformed report can cause an out-of-bounds read or write in kernel memory.","category":"runtime","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["linux","kernel","wifi","mac80211","self-hosted"],"confidence":0.5,"needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"kernel memory read or write from a malformed driver report","analyst_note":"Find the fixed kernel versions and stable backport commits from the NVD entry or the kernel.org CVE record, and confirm whether a remote attacker can send a crafted frame or whether only a faulty or malicious driver can trigger it.","how_to_check":"- unknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-wifi-hardware"],"who_is_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with mac80211 Wi-Fi drivers and the minstrel_ht rate control algorithm, which is the default rate control for many HT/VHT-capable Wi-Fi adapters. Machines without a mac80211 Wi-Fi device, or that do not use the affected code path, are unlikely to be exposed. The sources do not say which kernel versions are fixed.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000638,"input_tokens":3706,"output_tokens":534,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':15A,18A '-98824':16A,19A 'add':298C 'array':207C 'away':274C 'bad':288C 'bandwidth':145C,269C 'base':212C 'bound':13A,66B,174C 'bug':305C 'caus':61B 'check':123C,136C,248C 'common':182C 'consum':228C 'control':201C 'convert':94C 'corrupt':291C 'could':166C 'count':143C 'cve':14A,17A 'denial':311C 'depend':250C 'describ':235C 'driver':276C,304C 'drop':243C 'encod':241C 'entri':126C,213C,231C 'exist':120C 'ext':220C 'fi':6A,36B 'follow':78C 'get':158C,164C 'group':105C,264C 'host':26B 'ht':50B,91C,116C,157C,162C,191C,245C 'ht/vht':96C 'i.e':255C 'ieee80211':204C,217C,222C 'index':10A,56B,108C,113C,175C 'info':211C 'instead':186C 'keep':246C 'kernel':2A,20B,31B,71B,76C 'legaci':203C 'linux':1A,21B,30B,75C 'mac80211':22B,33B,84C,292C 'malform':3A,58B,152C 'mcs':140C,263C 'memori':72B 'metadata':39B,89C,153C,179C 'minstrel':49B,90C,115C,156C,161C,190C,244C 'number':258C 'otherwis':307C 'out-of-bound':63B,171C 'panic':300C 'pass':154C 'path':185C 'present':128C 'prevent':285C 'rate':38B,88C,97C,107C,117C,178C,200C,206C,210C,224C,238C 'read':67B 'record':132C 'report':40B,59B,98C,139C,280C,289C 'represent':147C 'resolv':82C 'respons':278C 'ri':163C 'run':229C 'runtim':23B 'sane':281C 'sanit':215C 'self':25B 'self-host':24B 'servic':313C 'sinc':192C 'singl':287C 'size':265C 'spatial':141C,260C 'stack':37B 'stat':159C,165C 'state':293C 'status':8A,44B,87C,93C,102C,184C,219C 'stream':142C,261C 'support':257C,268C 'tabl':55B,118C,150C,254C 'take':273C 'transmit':43B 'tri':131C 'turn':308C 'tx':7A,86C,92C,101C,183C,205C,218C,223C 'updat':225C 'use':51B,110C,168C,196C 'valid':47B,85C,121C,176C,237C 'valu':194C,282C 'vulner':79C 'warn':295C,302C 'wi':5A,35B 'wi-fi':4A,34B 'wifi':27B,83C 'would':306C 'write':69B","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with mac80211 Wi-Fi drivers and the minstrel_ht rate control algorithm, which is the default rate control for many HT/VHT-capable Wi-Fi adapters. Machines without a mac80211 Wi-Fi device, or that do not use the affected code path, are unlikely to be exposed. The sources do not say which kernel versions are fixed.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:36+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":null,"cvss_by":null,"poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-98824","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98824","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:36+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-19T10:19:46+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:17+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T22:28:56+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}