[CVE-2026-92497][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: ath12k: Avoid buffer overread in ath12k_wmi_op_rx() [ Upstream

[CVE-2026-92497][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: ath12k: Avoid buffer overread in ath12k_wmi_op_rx() [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL]

CVE: CVE-2026-92497
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: wifi: ath12k: Avoid buffer overread in ath12k_wmi_op_rx() [ Upstream
Commit: 9784faa6afd26693287e8e4569bdedee00212909
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=9784faa6afd26693287e8e4569bdedee00212909
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-92497
Analysis date: Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:03:17 -0400
ActionableScore: 2
ActionableScore lower bound: 1
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO

Summary:
ath12k WMI receive handling can read a firmware supplied command header before validating the skb length, causing a limited buffer overread that may lead to a warning or crash but does not currently show UAF, write, disclosure, or privilege escalation primitives.

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

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-92497 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-92497

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: NO

A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.

======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================

CVE-2026-92497	MODERATE	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-92497 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN IMPORTANT	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-126;CWE-125;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '5.9';DESCR 'ath12k WMI receive handling can read a WMI command header from skb data before verifying that the buffer is large enough to contain the header. A malformed or truncated firmware supplied WMI buffer can therefore cause a small out of bounds read in ath12k_wmi_op_rx. For the CVSS the PR:N is used only for the paranoid adjacent network interpretation where attacker controlled wireless conditions or a compromised device path can influence the event stream. In the more realistic base case, reliable triggering usually requires privileged local control over the device or firmware path. Impact is mainly denial of service through warning or crash, with limited confidentiality concern from an invalid read and no supported integrity or privilege escalation primitive.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2)	YES	REMOTE SIMPLEFIX NETWORK SKB HARDWARE LINUS  LOWERED_FROM_HIGH_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS  DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4	NO	NO	checked

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

ActionableScore=2
ActionableScoreLower=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES

## 1. ActionableScore

* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1. No floor or cap applied.
* Raw paranoid score: 2
* Paranoid score: 2. No floor or cap applied.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::

## 2. Signal breakdown

Conservative signals:

* +1 Limited OOB read / invalid read. `ath12k_wmi_op_rx()` reads `cmd_hdr->cmd_id` before proving that the skb contains a full `wmi_cmd_hdr`.
* +0 Reliable kernel crash not awarded. The patch establishes buffer overread, but does not establish a reliable panic or host-wide fatal crash.
* +0 Confidentiality not awarded. No path is shown where overread bytes are copied to userspace, network, firmware-visible output, logs, or another disclosure sink.
* +0 Integrity not awarded. No write, UAF, refcount mutation, object replacement, or policy bypass is shown.
* +0 Direct remote reachability not awarded. The malformed input is a firmware-supplied WMI buffer, and direct attacker control from WiFi frames is not established.
* +0 UAF and repeated release not awarded. No lifetime violation, stale pointer, refcount operation, double free, or post-free use is shown.

Paranoid additional signal:

* +1 Firmware-mediated external influence. Because this is a WiFi driver receive/control path, malformed firmware-originated events may be influenced indirectly by wireless conditions or by a compromised device/firmware path, but this remains weaker than direct network reachability.

Negative signals:

* No host-admin penalty applied. Host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established as required for all possible triggering.
* No rare-hardware penalty applied. The code is hardware-specific, but the evidence does not prove rare or physical-only attacker access as a security prerequisite.
* No race/timing penalty applied. This is not a race.

## 3. Reachability analysis

The vulnerable read occurs in the ath12k WMI receive path when the host driver processes a firmware-provided skb. A malformed or truncated WMI buffer can cause the driver to read the command header before length validation.

The most direct trigger model is firmware-mediated. A fully reliable trigger may require a faulty, compromised, or attacker-influenced device/firmware path. Adjacent wireless traffic might influence firmware event generation, but the supplied evidence does not prove that an unauthenticated nearby radio attacker can directly cause a truncated WMI buffer. Therefore direct remote or adjacent reachability is not treated as established for the conservative score.

HostAdminRequired is UNKNOWN because the evidence does not prove that host administrator privilege is required, but it also does not prove complete below-host-admin reachability. NamespaceScopedPrivilege is NO because namespace-scoped capabilities are not relevant to this path.

There is a device prerequisite: an affected Qualcomm ath12k WiFi device and driver must be present. This is not scored as rare hardware based only on the supplied evidence.

## 4. Primitive and severity interpretation

The exact primitive is a small read-only buffer overread of the WMI command header field before validating that the skb contains enough data. This is not an active structured-object UAF and not fixed stale storage after free. It is an invalid read from an insufficiently sized skb data area.

PrimitiveClass is CLASS_C because the established behavior is primarily invalid read / possible warning or crash behavior without an independently useful corruption primitive.

No concrete repeated release/refcount operation exists:

* First release can end lifetime: no.
* Exact same reference survives after release: no.
* Second lifetime/refcount mutation exists: no.
* Concrete repeated release/refcount +1 awarded: no.
* FLOOR 5 applied: no.

Demonstrated consequence is buffer overread. Practical impact is likely warning, fault, or DoS in sensitive/debug configurations. Speculative consequence is limited confidentiality concern if future analysis finds a disclosure sink, but none is established here.

ImportantCandidate is NO because there is no UAF, no write primitive, no controlled reclaim, no security-boundary bypass, and no demonstrated disclosure path. AutoDowngradeAllowed is YES because the issue remains a constrained invalid-read / DoS-like driver bug without unresolved Important-grade exploitation leverage.

## 5. One-sentence report phrase

ath12k WMI receive handling can read a firmware supplied command header before validating the skb length, causing a limited buffer overread that may lead to a warning or crash but does not currently show UAF, write, disclosure, or privilege escalation primitives.

## 6. Manual review recommendation

MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED

Reason: this is a real buffer overread in a WiFi driver receive path with possible firmware-mediated or adjacent-input influence, but the supplied evidence does not establish direct remote exploitability, information disclosure, memory corruption, or privilege escalation.

## 7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: high

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

Patch: wifi: ath12k: Avoid buffer overread in ath12k_wmi_op_rx() [ Upstream
Commit: 9784faa6afd26693287e8e4569bdedee00212909
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=9784faa6afd26693287e8e4569bdedee00212909

Changed files:
  drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.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=9784faa6afd26693287e8e4569bdedee00212909

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

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-92497 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-92497

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: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: 1
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 2

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).