From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-68350][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: carl9170: fix OOB read from off-by-two in TX status handler [ Upstream Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:44:33 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-68350 X-AL-KERNEL-Priority: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Severity: MODERATE REGULAR X-AL-KERNEL-Base-Severity: MODERATE X-AL-KERNEL-KPANIC: NO X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore: 3 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: 2 X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-68350 Priority: MODERATE REGULAR AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: wifi: carl9170: fix OOB read from off-by-two in TX status handler [ Upstream Commit: 7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68350 Analysis date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:44:33 -0400 ActionableScore: 3 ActionableScore lower bound: 2 Actionable bucket: Borderline manual review recommended Manual review required: YES Summary: An off-by-two bounds check in the carl9170 TX status handler allows firmware-controlled TX status metadata to trigger a small kernel out-of-bounds read, with likely impact limited to DoS and possible minor information exposure on systems using affected USB WiFi hardware. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-68350 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68350 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 REGULAR 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-2026-68350 MODERATE CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE 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-193;CWE-129;Other CVSS 'AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '5.9';DESCR 'An out of bounds read in the carl9170 TX status handler occurs because carl9170_tx_process_status() allowed two extra iterations past the valid _tx_status array when firmware controlled hdr ext was larger than hdr len divided by 2. A malicious or compromised USB WiFi adapter firmware can provide malformed TX status metadata and make the kernel read beyond the received command buffer. In the base model this is mainly a physical or malicious firmware attack against a host using the carl9170 driver. A direct Internet reachable path is not indicated. For the CVSS the PR:N is used in the paranoid view because triggering does not require a local account on the host once the attacker controls the device side input. Impact is at least denial of service through a kernel warning, crash, or KASAN detected OOB read, with limited confidentiality risk from a small kernel out of bounds read and no proven arbitrary write or privilege escalation primitive.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Borderline manual review recommended (with actual score 3) YES REMOTE READ OOB SIMPLEFIX NETWORK LINUS DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN5 NO NO checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=3 ActionableScoreLower=2 ## 1. ActionableScore * Conservative score: 2 * Paranoid score: 3 * Final recommended bucket: **Borderline manual review recommended** ## 2. Signal breakdown Triggered signals: * Firmware-mediated external influence: +1 `hdr.ext` is firmware-controlled, and malformed TX status metadata from the device side can drive the out-of-bounds read. * Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS: +1 The bug is an OOB read in a kernel driver path and was reported by syzkaller. It can plausibly trigger KASAN, WARN, or crash behavior, especially with debug or panic-on-warning configurations. * Confidentiality impact plausible: +1, paranoid only The primitive is read-only OOB by up to two `_tx_status` entries. This is limited, but a small adjacent kernel memory disclosure is technically plausible. Subtracted or not applied: * Physical-only or rare hardware condition: -1 to -2 The realistic attacker model is malicious or compromised carl9170 USB WiFi firmware, or a malicious device. This is not a broad default network path. * No generic strong memory corruption: +0 The patch shows OOB read only, not OOB write, UAF, double-free, type confusion, or arbitrary write. * No privilege escalation plausible signal: +0 There is no demonstrated reclaim, overwrite, callback control, object replacement, or refcount primitive. ## 3. Reachability analysis The most realistic trigger is a malicious or compromised carl9170 USB WiFi adapter or firmware that reports malformed TX status metadata. A local account on the host is not required once the attacker controls the device-side input, but physical access or prior firmware/device compromise is usually required. A direct Internet-reachable or ordinary WiFi packet-triggered path is not demonstrated by the patch. The affected driver is hardware-specific and not a broad default kernel data path. Call-site confidence: medium. The changed function and immediate bounds check are visible, but deeper downstream handling after the check is not fully included in the provided diff. ## 4. Severity interpretation This behaves like a limited firmware-fed OOB read with possible DoS, not like an Important-class memory corruption issue. The theoretical concern is small kernel memory exposure or crash from a malformed device response. Realistic exploitation evidence does not show privilege escalation, arbitrary write, or remote network reachability. This should not be treated as Critical or strong Important without additional evidence that WiFi traffic can remotely force the malformed firmware-controlled status fields. ## 5. One-sentence report phrase An off-by-two bounds check in the carl9170 TX status handler allows firmware-controlled TX status metadata to trigger a small kernel out-of-bounds read, with likely impact limited to DoS and possible minor information exposure on systems using affected USB WiFi hardware. ## 6. Manual review recommendation MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED. Reason: this is a kernel OOB read in a firmware-controlled device input path, but the primitive is limited and no write, UAF, LPE, or direct network trigger is shown. ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: carl9170: fix OOB read from off-by-two in TX status handler [ Upstream Commit: 7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e Changed files: drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.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=7ed0dce8613c92111d2a3836ced2ab03190ba20e ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-68350 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-68350 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: 2 Paranoid ActionableScore: 3 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 REGULAR 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).