From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-53258][LOW] wifi: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails [ Upstream Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:25 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-53258 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: LOW X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: LOW X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: LOW X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: NO X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 1 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: 0 X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-53258 Priority: LOW AL-KERNEL base severity: LOW KPANIC flag: NO Patch: wifi: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails [ Upstream Commit: fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-53258 Analysis date: Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:25 -0400 ActionableScore: 1 ActionableScore lower bound: 0 Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate / Low-like Manual review required: NO Summary: cfg80211 may leak a small internal scan request object when split 6 GHz scanning fails before normal scan cleanup is armed, causing only gradual local resource exhaustion with no evidence of memory corruption or privilege escalation. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-53258 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-53258 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: LOW Manual review required: NO A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included at the end of this message. ====================================================================== AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT ====================================================================== CVE-2026-53258 LOW CHECK Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';*CWE-401;*CWE-772;**CWE-400;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '3.3';DESCR 'cfg80211 can leak an internal scan request when split 6 GHz scanning is used and rdev_scan fails before the request becomes part of the normal scan completion cleanup path. The leaked object is small and the bug class is resource leak only, with no evidence of UAF, OOB access, information disclosure, or privilege escalation. For the CVSS the PR:L in the paranoid score reflects deployments where a local user can indirectly trigger Wi-Fi scans through a network management service, while the base score assumes administrator controlled scan operations. The issue is not directly network reachable and requires local control of the Wi-Fi scan path. Impact is limited denial of service through gradual memory consumption under repeated failing scan attempts.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate / Low-like (with actual score 1) YES REMOTE LEAK NO NO checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=1 ActionableScoreLower=0 ## 1. ActionableScore * Conservative score: 0 * Paranoid score: 1 * Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate / Low-like** ## 2. Signal breakdown Conservative signals: * Availability impact realistic: +1. The bug is a real memory leak of one internal scan request object when split 6 GHz scanning fails. * Requires admin or privileged network management in typical deployments: -2. Direct nl80211 scan control is normally performed by privileged components such as wpa_supplicant or NetworkManager. * Rare and condition-dependent trigger: -1. Requires Wi-Fi hardware or driver path using split 6 GHz scanning and an rdev_scan failure before normal cleanup. Conservative total is floored at 0. Paranoid signals: * Local unprivileged trigger: +1. Some desktop deployments may allow an unprivileged local user to indirectly request scans through a network management service. * Availability impact realistic: +1. Repeated failures can leak memory gradually. * Rare and condition-dependent trigger: -1. The leak requires split 6 GHz scan support and repeated failing scan attempts. Paranoid total: 1. Not counted: * No generic memory corruption. The patch fixes a lost allocation with kfree, not UAF, double free, OOB write, type confusion, or refcount misuse. * No privilege escalation signal. There is no reclaim, stale pointer reuse, callback dispatch, or write primitive. * No confidentiality or integrity impact. * No remote or packet-processing reachability. ## 3. Reachability analysis The bug is triggered through the cfg80211 nl80211 scan path, typically by wpa_supplicant or a network management daemon. Direct triggering usually requires local privileges such as CAP_NET_ADMIN or an authorized system service path. Namespaces do not obviously make this broadly unprivileged unless Wi-Fi control is explicitly delegated. The affected path is common in Wi-Fi stacks, but the specific leak requires split 6 GHz scanning and rdev_scan failure, so exploitation conditions are narrow and not default for all systems. ## 4. Severity interpretation This behaves like a low-end resource leak rather than an actionable kernel memory corruption issue. The realistic impact is gradual memory consumption under repeated failing scan attempts. There is no evidence of UAF, object reuse, attacker-controlled overwrite, information disclosure, or privilege escalation. The issue should be treated as ordinary Moderate or Low-like, not Important. ## 5. One-sentence report phrase cfg80211 may leak a small internal scan request object when split 6 GHz scanning fails before normal scan cleanup is armed, causing only gradual local resource exhaustion with no evidence of memory corruption or privilege escalation. ## 6. Manual review recommendation NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED This is a straightforward resource leak with constrained reachability, small per-trigger impact, no memory corruption primitive, and no network exposure. ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails [ Upstream Commit: fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 Changed files: net/wireless/scan.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=fb8db813eba2e56ee001c9fb5c2ce2cb78c42642 ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-53258 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-53258 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:L The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 3.3 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: 0 Paranoid ActionableScore: 1 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: LOW KPANIC detected for this report: NO Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): LOW 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).