CVE-2026-97474 (GCVE-0-2026-97474)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-24 16:04 – Updated: 2026-09-25 05:10
VLAI
Title
wifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error This fixes a kernel panic in reconfig failure: 1. we have a BSS connection 2. we have a NAN connection 3. FW error occurs 4. reconfig restores the BSS connection 5. however, restoring the NAN connection fails due to a FW error. 6. erroneously, ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure is called and marks all interfaces as not-in-driver (will be fixed in a different patch). 7. mac80211 frees the links of the BSS connection but doesn't tell the driver about that, as it thinks that this vif is not in the driver. 8. in ieee80211_stop_device, *ALL* wiphy works are getting flushed (erroneously?) 9. Therefore, async_handlers_wk is being executed, processing the statistics notification that was received after we restored the BSS connection. 10. the notification handler dereferences fw_id_to_bss_conf[id], which is now a dangling pointer, as mac80211 already freed this link in (7). 11. On the first access to one of the links fields, we panic. While this can and should be fixed by removing the call to ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure in (6), it is also not a good idea to carry and maybe handle notifications from a dead FW. We do purge the notifications when we stop the FW, but in reconfig failure we stop the FW too late, after the notifications are processed. In addition, async_handlers_wk can always be scheduled before the reconfig work. Purge the notifications immediately when transport notifies about a nic error.
Severity
7.4 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 , < 1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063 (git)
Affected: 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 , < a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85 (git)
Affected: 0 , < 6.18.53 (semver)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Unaffected: 6.18.53 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld/mld.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.18.53",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld/mld.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.53",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.18.53",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.2",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error\n\nThis fixes a kernel panic in reconfig failure:\n\n1. we have a BSS connection\n2. we have a NAN connection\n3. FW error occurs\n4. reconfig restores the BSS connection\n5. however, restoring the NAN connection fails due to a FW error.\n6. erroneously, ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure is called and marks all\n   interfaces as not-in-driver (will be fixed in a different patch).\n7. mac80211 frees the links of the BSS connection but doesn\u0027t tell the\n   driver about that, as it thinks that this vif is not in the driver.\n8. in ieee80211_stop_device, *ALL* wiphy works are getting flushed\n   (erroneously?)\n9. Therefore, async_handlers_wk is being executed, processing the\n   statistics notification that was received after we restored the BSS\n   connection.\n10. the notification handler dereferences fw_id_to_bss_conf[id], which is\n    now a dangling pointer, as mac80211 already freed this link in (7).\n11. On the first access to one of the links fields, we panic.\n\nWhile this can and should be fixed by removing the call to\nieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure in (6), it is also not a good idea to\ncarry and maybe handle notifications from a dead FW.\n\nWe do purge the notifications when we stop the FW, but in reconfig\nfailure we stop the FW too late, after the notifications are processed.\nIn addition, async_handlers_wk can always be scheduled before the\nreconfig work.\n\nPurge the notifications immediately when transport notifies about a nic\nerror."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.4,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - iwl_mld_nic_error is reached from iwl_pcie_irq_handle_error via iwl_trans_fw_error(IWL_ERR_TYPE_IRQ) on the firmware SW_ERR/FH_ERR interrupt, not from iwl_mld_rx_mpdu parsing an 802.11 frame. The leftover STATISTICS_OPER_NOTIF that iwl_mld_rx_notif queued is firmware-generated stats; the dangling object is mac80211 ieee80211_bss_conf, which does not transit the air interface.\nAC:H - The UAF needs a firmware death so ieee80211_restart_hw runs, then ieee80211_reconfig_nan failing so ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure clears IEEE80211_SDATA_IN_DRIVER while BSS links remain in fw_id_to_bss_conf. That second failure is another device IRQ or dead-FW error during recovery; the attacker cannot raise those interrupts on demand.\nPR:N - iwl_mld_nic_error runs from the PCIe ISR through iwl_op_mode_nic_error with no capable() check. On a host that already has a BSS STA and a NAN vif, the firmware SW_ERR path fires with no Linux uid, user namespace, or attacker-issued NL80211_CMD_START_NAN.\nUI:N - Once BSS and NAN are already up, iwl_pcie_irq_handle_error and the later wiphy_work_flush of async_handlers_wk inside ieee80211_stop_device run from driver restart work; no victim mount, click, or further nl80211 command is required.\nS:U - iwl_mld_process_per_link_stats loading the stale fw_id_to_bss_conf pointer oopses this kernel. It does not cross a VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary.\nC:H - After ieee80211_vif_set_links(sdata, 0, 0) kfree\u0027s the removed link_container, iwl_mld_handle_stats_oper_notif \u2192 iwl_mld_process_per_link_stats still reads bss_conf-\u003evif via iwl_mld_fw_id_to_link_conf. That use-after-free of the kmalloc\u0027d ieee80211_bss_conf is an arbitrary kernel read.\nI:H - The same dangling bss_conf is passed to iwl_mld_update_link_sig, which writes link-\u003elast_cqm_rssi_event via iwl_mld_link_from_mac80211. Reusing the freed link_container therefore yields a kernel write primitive.\nA:H - The first load through fw_id_to_bss_conf[id] in iwl_mld_process_per_link_stats after mac80211 freed the BSS link is a kernel oops, matching the panic described in the fix."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-09-25T05:10:48.837Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85"
        }
      ],
      "title": "wifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-97474",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-24T16:04:16.741Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-24T16:01:01.149Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-09-25T05:10:48.837Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "nvd": {
      "cve": {
        "affected": [
          {
            "affectedData": [
              {
                "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld/mld.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "lessThan": "1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "6.18.53",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "0",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  }
                ]
              },
              {
                "defaultStatus": "affected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld/mld.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "6.18.53",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "7.2",
                    "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ],
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
          }
        ],
        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error\n\nThis fixes a kernel panic in reconfig failure:\n\n1. we have a BSS connection\n2. we have a NAN connection\n3. FW error occurs\n4. reconfig restores the BSS connection\n5. however, restoring the NAN connection fails due to a FW error.\n6. erroneously, ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure is called and marks all\n   interfaces as not-in-driver (will be fixed in a different patch).\n7. mac80211 frees the links of the BSS connection but doesn\u0027t tell the\n   driver about that, as it thinks that this vif is not in the driver.\n8. in ieee80211_stop_device, *ALL* wiphy works are getting flushed\n   (erroneously?)\n9. Therefore, async_handlers_wk is being executed, processing the\n   statistics notification that was received after we restored the BSS\n   connection.\n10. the notification handler dereferences fw_id_to_bss_conf[id], which is\n    now a dangling pointer, as mac80211 already freed this link in (7).\n11. On the first access to one of the links fields, we panic.\n\nWhile this can and should be fixed by removing the call to\nieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure in (6), it is also not a good idea to\ncarry and maybe handle notifications from a dead FW.\n\nWe do purge the notifications when we stop the FW, but in reconfig\nfailure we stop the FW too late, after the notifications are processed.\nIn addition, async_handlers_wk can always be scheduled before the\nreconfig work.\n\nPurge the notifications immediately when transport notifies about a nic\nerror."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-97474",
        "lastModified": "2026-09-24T17:17:24.547",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-09-24T17:17:24.547",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Received"
      }
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "not set",
      "current_release_date": "2026-09-24T23:45:38Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-97474",
      "id": "CVE-2026-97474",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-09-24T23:45:38Z",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-97474",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2026-97474.json",
      "version": "2"
    }
  }
}



Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.





Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Related by attack behaviour

Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.