From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-46069][MODERATE 7.0] wifi: mwifiex: fix use-after-free in mwifiex_adapter_cleanup() [ Upstream Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 11:25:17 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-46069 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: MODERATE 7.0 X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: MODERATE 7.0 X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: MODERATE X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: YES X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 7 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: 4 X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-46069 Priority: MODERATE 7.0 AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: YES Patch: wifi: mwifiex: fix use-after-free in mwifiex_adapter_cleanup() [ Upstream Commit: 11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-46069 Analysis date: Wed, 27 May 2026 11:25:17 -0400 ActionableScore: 7 ActionableScore lower bound: 4 Actionable bucket: Strong Important candidate / Actionable Moderate at minimum Manual review required: YES Summary: A mwifiex cleanup race can let `wakeup_timer_fn` access the freed adapter after non-synchronous `timer_delete()`, creating a kernel UAF with likely DoS impact and requiring review for possible broader exploitation. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-46069 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-46069 The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue. This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a separate ActionableScore mechanism. The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful security impact. Published priority for this report: MODERATE 7.0 Manual review required: YES A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included at the end of this message. ====================================================================== AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT ====================================================================== CVE-2026-46069 MODERATE CHECK Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H';*CWE-416;CWE-362;*CWE-664;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7';DESCR 'A use after free can occur in mwifiex adapter cleanup because timer_delete() does not wait for an already running wakeup_timer callback to finish. The callback may continue to access adapter fields after the adapter is freed during the remove path, leading to stale object access and kernel crash. For the CVSS the PR:L is used in the paranoid score only for environments where a less privileged local actor can influence driver reprobe, device reset, hotplug, or firmware fault handling. The typical case is more privileged because cleanup is normally reached through device removal or driver unload. The issue is not directly network reachable from WiFi traffic based on the patch. Impact is at least denial of service via kernel crash. Because this is a real timer lifetime UAF, worst case confidentiality and integrity impact should be reviewed manually even though reliable exploitation is not demonstrated.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Strong Important candidate / Actionable Moderate at minimum (with actual score 6) YES REMOTE UAF NETWORK TIMER KPANIC KPANIC DECREASED_TO_MODERATE70_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELOWERTHAN7 NO NO checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=7 ActionableScoreLower=4 ## 1. ActionableScore * Conservative score: 4 * Paranoid score: 7 * Final recommended bucket: **Strong Important candidate / Actionable Moderate at minimum**:: ## 2. Signal breakdown Conservative signals: * Generic memory corruption, strong corruption primitive: +2 The commit explicitly describes a UAF where `wakeup_timer_fn` can access `adapter` after it is freed. * Real lifetime corruption: +1 The bug is an asynchronous timer lifetime mismatch: `timer_delete()` does not wait for an active callback. * Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS: +1 The timer callback can dereference freed adapter fields and crash the kernel. * Privileged/device-management memory corruption path: +1 The UAF occurs in a WiFi driver cleanup/remove path, a trusted kernel device-management context. Subtracting signals: * Requires admin/device removal in typical deployments: -2 The normal path is driver unload, device removal, or cleanup during remove. * Hard timing race: -1 The timer callback must be running concurrently with adapter cleanup. Paranoid additional signals: * Local reduced-privilege trigger concern: +1 Some environments may let a less privileged actor influence hotplug, reprobe, device reset, suspend/resume, or firmware fault recovery timing. * Privilege escalation plausible: +2 A real UAF in a kernel driver timer callback can be more than DoS if object reclaim and timing are controllable, though no exploit primitive is demonstrated. * Confidentiality impact plausible: +1 UAF may theoretically expose stale kernel object data or cause incorrect object interpretation. * Integrity impact plausible: +1 UAF may theoretically allow corruption or controlled reuse of the freed adapter object. ## 3. Reachability analysis The realistic trigger is local and device-management related: driver unload, device removal, hotplug, reset, suspend/resume, or error recovery while `wakeup_timer_fn` is active. Ordinary WiFi network traffic is not shown to directly trigger the cleanup path. Namespaces and containers matter only if device management, USB/SDIO/PCI hotplug, or driver reprobe controls are delegated. Firmware or hardware fault behavior may also influence timing, but the patch does not show a direct remote WiFi packet trigger. ## 4. Severity interpretation This is stronger than an ordinary Moderate cleanup bug because it is a real UAF caused by asynchronous timer lifetime handling. The conservative impact is kernel crash during cleanup. The paranoid interpretation is an Important candidate because UAF in a driver timer callback can sometimes be exploitable beyond crash if the attacker can influence object lifetime and reclaim. However, practical exploitation is constrained by cleanup-path reachability and timing. ## 5. One-sentence report phrase A mwifiex cleanup race can let `wakeup_timer_fn` access the freed adapter after non-synchronous `timer_delete()`, creating a kernel UAF with likely DoS impact and requiring review for possible broader exploitation. ## 6. Manual review recommendation MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED Reason: this is a real timer-lifetime UAF in a WiFi driver cleanup path, even though practical triggering may require device-management or fault-recovery conditions. ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: mwifiex: fix use-after-free in mwifiex_adapter_cleanup() [ Upstream Commit: 11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 Changed files: drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/init.c Diff excerpt: Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch. Full patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=11869ce402d95519d49b25a2a97741f68d69d103 ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-46069 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-46069 The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information. The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure. This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore. Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability information often permits more than one defensible interpretation: Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 7 The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation. The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated real-world impact. CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment, because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration, hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental conditions can differ significantly between systems. A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites, subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or privilege-escalation impact. Conservative ActionableScore: 4 Paranoid ActionableScore: 7 The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7. For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following additional presentation split: ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0 The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases, MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update. There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0 even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage). KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification workflow. AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE KPANIC detected for this report: YES Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE 7.0 These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition. For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/ (and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report for non-existant CVE-id yet). Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases, please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses info to this particular CVE. And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar). My contact email for such notifications is alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).