[CVE-2026-97442][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: ath11k: fix invalid data access in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi [ Upstream

[CVE-2026-97442][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: ath11k: fix invalid data access in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL]

CVE: CVE-2026-97442
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: wifi: ath11k: fix invalid data access in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi [ Upstream
Commit: 1c0a13be76db3c1cf774aa11d9f4c3f8239ac567
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=1c0a13be76db3c1cf774aa11d9f4c3f8239ac567
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97442
Analysis date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:19:46 -0400
ActionableScore: 3
ActionableScore lower bound: 2
Actionable bucket: Borderline / manual review recommended
Manual review required: YES

Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.

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

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97442 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97442

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-2026-97442	MODERATE	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-97442 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:H/I:H/A:H';*CWE-787;CWE-125;*CWE-20;Other CVSS 'AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7.5';DESCR 'An ath11k RX path can access or modify invalid data when a Native WiFi decapsulated packet has a header length greater than DP_MAX_NWIFI_HDR_LEN. The patch context reports potential memory corruption and kernel stack corruption in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi. An attacker in WiFi radio range may be able to supply traffic that reaches the affected RX processing path. For the CVSS the PR:N because the selected paranoid scenario assumes that no authenticated local account or host side privilege is required beyond radio network access. AV:A is used because the attacker must be adjacent to the target WiFi interface rather than reachable through a general routed network. The reliable impact includes a kernel crash. In the worst case the reported kernel stack corruption may allow confidentiality integrity and availability impact. YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Borderline / manual review recommended (with actual score 3)	YES	REMOTE DANGER NETWORK SKB HARDWARE LINUS PACKET  DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4	NO	NO	checked

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

ActionableScore=3
ActionableScoreLower=2
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_B
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=YES
ManualReview=REQUIRED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=NO

1. ActionableScore

* Raw conservative score: 2
* Conservative score: 2
* Raw paranoid score: 3
* Paranoid score: 3
* Final recommended bucket: **Borderline / manual review recommended**::

No floor or cap was applied. The higher paranoid score is selected because the bug is a concrete RX-path memory-corruption candidate, but attacker control over the abnormal hardware-provided header length is not established by the supplied patch.

2. Signal breakdown

* +1 Constrained kernel buffer overwrite. The commit explicitly states that ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi can access and modify invalid data and potentially cause memory corruption. The affected target is an RX SKB/header-processing path, but attacker control over the exact target, overwrite range, and payload is not demonstrated.
* +1 Reliable kernel corruption or strong DoS concern. The supplied context reports kernel stack corruption in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap. This supports a realistic kernel-fault or crash concern, but no separate Availability point is added because it would double-count the same consequence.
* +1 Paranoid only. Firmware-mediated external influence. The vulnerable operation processes WiFi RX traffic and hardware-provided RX descriptors. An adjacent radio attacker may be able to influence the malformed packet condition, but the patch does not prove that crafted 802.11 traffic alone can cause the hardware to provide an overlong Native WiFi header length.

Important non-awarded signals:

* Controlled reclaim is not demonstrated.
* Arbitrary or directed kernel write is not demonstrated.
* A concrete attacker-controlled overwrite payload is not demonstrated.
* Direct remote network reachability is not established. WiFi radio adjacency is not equivalent to general AV:N reachability.
* Strong LPE plausibility is not awarded. Kernel stack corruption alone does not establish control-flow influence, credential modification, or a reusable write primitive.
* Confidentiality and integrity consequences are not separately awarded. The patch does not establish a disclosure path, protected-state modification, or an attacker-controlled corruption target.
* No UAF, refcount misuse, double release, RCU lifetime violation, or second lifetime mutation is established.
* No hard-race penalty is applied. This is not presented as a timing race.
* No rare-hardware penalty is applied. ath11k hardware specificity alone is insufficient evidence that relevant hardware is rare or unreachable.

3. Reachability analysis

The vulnerable code is in the ath11k WiFi receive path and processes SKBs associated with hardware RX descriptors. The supplied commit states that hardware may provide packets whose Native WiFi header length exceeds DP_MAX_NWIFI_HDR_LEN.

A plausible attacker model is a nearby WiFi sender that can transmit frames received by the vulnerable ath11k device. However, the supplied evidence does not establish that an attacker-controlled over-the-air IEEE 802.11 frame can reliably cause the specific abnormal hardware descriptor or header-length condition. The abnormal state may depend on firmware, hardware behavior, malformed frames, RX error handling, or an interaction among them.

No local account, namespace capability, host administrator privilege, or control-plane operation is identified as necessary to reach normal RX processing. Nevertheless, below-host-admin reachability of the complete corruption condition is not positively established. Therefore HostAdminRequired is UNKNOWN rather than NO.

No namespace-scoped capability is relevant or established for the complete trigger chain. NamespaceScopedPrivilege is UNKNOWN.

No prior host-admin setup is shown beyond use of an ath11k-supported WiFi device and operation of its receive path. Hardware and firmware behavior are material prerequisites, but the supplied evidence does not establish whether the issue affects all ath11k firmware versions or only specific devices such as WCN6855.

4. Primitive and severity interpretation

The patch establishes an invalid-data-access and memory-corruption candidate in ath11k Native WiFi decapsulation processing. Before the fix, ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi could process a Native WiFi frame whose calculated IEEE 802.11 header length exceeded DP_MAX_NWIFI_HDR_LEN. The patch adds validation before several RX processing paths reach undecapsulation.

This is not a UAF or ownership/lifetime issue. It is an input-validation and bounds-safety issue involving an SKB-backed receive buffer. The supplied commit explicitly reports potential memory corruption and kernel stack corruption, so this should not be reduced to a WARN-only or benign malformed-packet condition.

The evidence supports CLASS_B rather than CLASS_A. There is evidence of invalid access and potential overwrite, but no demonstrated attacker-directed write target, controlled overwrite contents, controlled object replacement, callback influence, arbitrary read/write, information disclosure, or privilege escalation.

The practical demonstrated consequence is kernel memory corruption with likely crash or DoS potential. A stronger consequence such as confidentiality loss, integrity compromise, or local privilege escalation remains speculative because the patch does not establish that the malformed condition is externally controllable or that the resulting memory corruption is attacker-shaped.

ImportantCandidate is YES because a reported kernel stack-corruption condition in a WiFi RX path requires manual examination of hardware descriptor semantics and frame reachability before the issue can safely be downgraded. AutoDowngradeAllowed is NO because the patch-supported corruption primitive remains unresolved, even though strong exploitation leverage has not been established.

Likely operational severity is below confirmed Important unless further analysis confirms that an adjacent unauthenticated attacker can reliably induce the invalid header-length condition and materially control the resulting corruption.

5. One-sentence report phrase

An ath11k Native WiFi RX path may process an overlong hardware-provided header length and access or modify invalid SKB data, causing potential kernel stack corruption and denial of service, but attacker control of the malformed hardware condition requires manual verification.

6. Manual review recommendation

MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED

The commit reports potential memory corruption and kernel stack corruption in a WiFi receive path, but the patch does not establish whether malformed over-the-air traffic can reliably produce the required abnormal hardware descriptor state.

7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: medium

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

Patch: wifi: ath11k: fix invalid data access in ath11k_dp_rx_h_undecap_nwifi [ Upstream
Commit: 1c0a13be76db3c1cf774aa11d9f4c3f8239ac567
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=1c0a13be76db3c1cf774aa11d9f4c3f8239ac567

Changed files:
  drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/dp_rx.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=1c0a13be76db3c1cf774aa11d9f4c3f8239ac567

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

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97442 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97442

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:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 7.5

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).