[CVE-2026-68326][MODERATE 7.0] wifi: mwifiex: bound uAP association event IEs to the event buffer [ Upstream

[CVE-2026-68326][MODERATE 7.0] wifi: mwifiex: bound uAP association event IEs to the event buffer [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL]

CVE: CVE-2026-68326
Priority: MODERATE 7.0
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: wifi: mwifiex: bound uAP association event IEs to the event buffer [ Upstream
Commit: a3f47d7c75ddad1a14621a309286f9fae3cba191
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=a3f47d7c75ddad1a14621a309286f9fae3cba191
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68326
Analysis date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:24:20 -0400
ActionableScore: 5
ActionableScore lower bound: 3
Actionable bucket: Actionable Moderate at minimum
Manual review required: YES

Summary:
A firmware supplied length in the mwifiex uAP association event path can underflow or extend association IE parsing beyond the fixed event buffer, causing slab OOB reads, possible stale event byte disclosure through nl80211, and kernel DoS on affected mwifiex AP mode systems.

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ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-68326 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68326

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.

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AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
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CVE-2026-68326	MODERATE	CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW	Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H';CWE-125;CWE-191;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '5.9';DESCR 'A bounds check bug in the mwifiex uAP association event path can let a firmware supplied event length describe association request IEs outside the fixed event_body buffer. This can make cfg80211_find_ie read past the mwifiex adapter slab object and can cause a kernel crash. A smaller than header length can also underflow and become a very large assoc_req_ies_len. A modest over claim may copy stale event_body bytes into an NL80211_CMD_NEW_STATION notification, so limited local information exposure is possible. For the CVSS the PR:N is used because the malformed event can be supplied by the device side without a local account on the victim. The base vector treats this as a malicious or malfunctioning physical mwifiex device. The paranoid vector treats the AP/uAP association path as adjacent network reachable when a nearby WiFi station can influence the association event path. Impact is primarily denial of service, with limited confidentiality impact possible from stale event bytes. No direct privilege escalation primitive is visible because the patch supports out of bounds read and integer underflow rather than an out of bounds write or UAF.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Actionable Moderate at minimum (with actual score 4)	YES	REMOTE READ KASAN OOB NETWORK HARDWARE PACKET  DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN5	NO	NO	checked

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ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=5
ActionableScoreLower=3

## 1. ActionableScore

* Conservative score: 3
* Paranoid score: 5
* Final recommended bucket: **Actionable Moderate at minimum**::

## 2. Signal breakdown

Conservative signals:

* Firmware-mediated external influence: +1
  The malformed `event->len` is supplied by mwifiex device firmware through USB, SDIO, or PCIe.
* Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS: +1
  The commit explicitly describes KASAN slab-out-of-bounds in `cfg80211_find_ie()`, and the IE walk can read past `adapter->event_body`.
* Confidentiality impact plausible: +1
  A modest length over-claim may copy stale `event_body` bytes into `NL80211_CMD_NEW_STATION`, creating a limited local information exposure path.
* Privileged kernel/device-management corruption path: +1
  The bug is in a firmware-fed wireless driver event path and affects parsing inside trusted kernel context.
* Physical-only or rare hardware-only condition: -2
  The conservative interpretation requires a malicious or malfunctioning mwifiex device or firmware and AP/uAP mode.

Paranoid additional interpretation:

* Adjacent wireless influence / AP association path relevance: +1
  The affected path processes uAP station association events. A nearby WiFi station may influence association IEs, but direct control over firmware-reported `event->len` is not proven, so this is weaker than full remote network reachability.
* Availability impact realistic: +1
  If the malformed event is deliverable, the failure is host-kernel visible and may cause a system-wide crash rather than only a local warning.

Not counted:

* No strong LPE plausibility.
  The patch shows OOB read and integer underflow, not UAF, OOB write, arbitrary write, reclaim, callback control, refcount takeover, or object replacement.
* No generic strong memory corruption.
  This is read-side OOB plus length underflow, not a write corruption primitive.

## 3. Reachability analysis

The most direct trigger is a malicious or malfunctioning mwifiex device or firmware delivering an invalid `EVENT_UAP_STA_ASSOC` event while the interface is in AP/uAP mode. A local user account is not required if the malformed event comes from the device side, so PR is effectively none for the firmware/device-originating case.

The adjacent-network interpretation is plausible but not fully proven from the patch alone. A nearby WiFi station can influence association request IEs, but the vulnerable length field is reported by firmware, not directly by the station frame as seen by the kernel. Therefore this should not be treated as ordinary AV:N remote reachability. It is better modeled as firmware-mediated or possibly adjacent-network-assisted.

The path is not a broad default Linux exposure. It requires mwifiex hardware and AP/uAP mode, which reduces general deployment exposure. Containers and namespaces are not the main privilege boundary here, because the input arrives from hardware/firmware rather than a normal local userspace API.

Call-site confidence: high. The commit message identifies the downstream consumers: `mwifiex_set_sta_ht_cap()`, `cfg80211_find_ie()`, and `cfg80211_new_sta()`.

## 4. Severity interpretation

This behaves like an actionable Moderate issue, not a clear Important-class vulnerability. The realistic impact is kernel crash or limited information exposure from stale event buffer bytes. The theoretical risk is higher than an ordinary driver warning because the bug involves unchecked firmware-supplied length, integer underflow, slab OOB read, and a possible user-visible nl80211 disclosure path.

However, privilege escalation is not supported by the shown primitive. There is no write, UAF, object replacement, callback dispatch, or refcount abuse. The main reason not to auto-close is the combination of firmware-mediated input, wireless AP association context, OOB read, possible stale-byte disclosure, and kernel crash.

## 5. One-sentence report phrase

A firmware supplied length in the mwifiex uAP association event path can underflow or extend association IE parsing beyond the fixed event buffer, causing slab OOB reads, possible stale event byte disclosure through nl80211, and kernel DoS on affected mwifiex AP mode systems.

## 6. Manual review recommendation

MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED

Manual review is required because this is a firmware-fed wireless driver OOB read with integer underflow, possible local information exposure, and a defensible adjacent wireless influence concern, even though the patch does not support a strong privilege escalation primitive.

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UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: wifi: mwifiex: bound uAP association event IEs to the event buffer [ Upstream
Commit: a3f47d7c75ddad1a14621a309286f9fae3cba191
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=a3f47d7c75ddad1a14621a309286f9fae3cba191

Changed files:
  drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/uap_event.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=a3f47d7c75ddad1a14621a309286f9fae3cba191

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-68326 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68326

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:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.9

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: 3
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 5

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: NO
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).