From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: AL-KERNEL To: kernel-cve@kernelcve.org Subject: [CVE-2026-98700][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: mac80211: set info->band for 802.3 encap offload frames [ Upstream Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 04:47:06 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AL-KERNEL-CVE: CVE-2026-98700 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: 2 X-AL-KERNEL-ActionableScore-Lower: unknown X-AL-KERNEL-Commit: 93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f List-Id: CVE: CVE-2026-98700 Priority: MODERATE REGULAR AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE KPANIC flag: NO Patch: wifi: mac80211: set info->band for 802.3 encap offload frames [ Upstream Commit: 93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98700 Analysis date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 04:47:06 -0400 ActionableScore: 2 ActionableScore lower bound: unknown Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate Manual review required: NO Summary: Missing mac80211 TX band initialization can select rates from the wrong wireless band and disrupt the affected offloaded wireless data path without demonstrated memory corruption or security-boundary impact. ====================================================================== ABOUT THIS REPORT ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98700 is available here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98700 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-2026-98700 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98700 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN IMPORTANT | AEGIS IMPACT MODERATE AEGIS_AS=0 LEGACY=MODERATE RESULT=SAME V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP=LOW->MODERATE (final reconciliation agrees; DECISION: both MODERATE) Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';CWE-665;CWE-682;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '3.5';DESCR 'Missing info band initialization in ieee80211_8023_xmit can make ieee80211_get_tx_rates use rate data for the wrong wireless band on non MLD interfaces using 802.11 encapsulation offload. This can cause invalid or unsuitable transmission rate selection, dropped frames, reduced throughput, or loss of wireless connectivity. For the CVSS the PR:L value reflects that reliable triggering normally requires a local user able to generate traffic or an authenticated adjacent WiFi peer able to cause forwarded traffic. The demonstrated primitive is incorrect TX metadata and not UAF, OOB access, information disclosure, arbitrary write, or privilege escalation. Confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected and availability impact is limited to the affected wireless data path. Automated impact decision path. The original SimpleNet classifier selected IMPORTANT. The primary LLM estimated paranoid CVSS 3.5 and the production ActionableScore returned 2 with recommendation Ordinary Moderate. The production rules then evaluated CVSS thresholds and ActionableScore thresholds. Recorded rule transitions were CVSS and initial triage stage IMPORTANT to MODERATE_KPANIC because the CVSS score, vector or bug class threshold rule was applied. ActionableScore thresholds stage MODERATE_KPANIC to LOW because the ActionableScore threshold rule was applied. final reconciliation stage LOW to MODERATE because KP specialist did not establish a qualifying panic and the cross model evidence reconciliation rule was applied. The legacy KP specialist has no review artifact for this run. The legacy FD or DH downgrade specialist has no review artifact for this run. Exact triggered rule markers were LOWERED_FROM_HIGH_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS and DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 and DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 and KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED and V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP and MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED. The independent weaker Aegis shadow evaluated CVSS 4.3 and ActionableScore 0 with primitive class NONE and manual review REQUIRED. Its independently reconciled impact was MODERATE. Cross model aggregation changed the production result under an enabled evidence gated merge rule. The final reported impact is MODERATE.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2) MAYBE REMOTE SIMPLEFIX SKB LOWERED_FROM_HIGH_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED V39_AEGIS_ONE_STEP_UP MANUAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED - - checked ====================================================================== ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS ====================================================================== ActionableScore=2 PrimitiveClass=NONE RealUAF=NO HostAdminRequired=NO NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN ImportantCandidate=NO ManualReview=NO AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES RequiresHostUID0=NO AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE B4PendingReview=NO B4PendingConfirmed=NO 1. ActionableScore * Raw base score: 2. * Conservative score: 2; no floor or cap applied. * Raw paranoid score: 2. * Paranoid score: 2. * Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**:: 2. Signal breakdown * +2 clearly network-reachable transmit path: an authenticated adjacent peer can plausibly induce forwarded traffic through an already configured AP/offload data path. * +0 incorrect TX metadata: `info->band` remains zero and is consumed by `ieee80211_get_tx_rates`, but this is an invalid-value/rate-selection defect, not a demonstrated memory-corruption primitive. * +0 availability: dropped frames, reduced throughput, or wireless-path connectivity loss are plausible, but no kernel crash, host-wide DoS, or persistent failure is shown. * No UAF, OOB access, write primitive, authorization bypass, protected-state modification, disclosure, or privilege escalation is shown. * B5-R does not apply: there is no retry-accumulated heap OOB write or later consumption of corrupted heap state. * B3-PENDING does not apply: no shared/file-backed storage write exists. * V33/V34 do not apply: no attacker-controlled checksum placement or header corruption exists. 3. Reachability analysis The affected path requires a non-MLD mac80211 interface using 802.11 encapsulation offload. Once configured, ordinary local traffic or authenticated adjacent traffic forwarded by an AP can plausibly exercise transmission without host-administrator privileges. Configuration of the interface/offload may require prior administration, but the per-packet trigger does not. No evidence establishes a namespace-scoped complete setup or trigger chain. No race, special hardware rarity, or retry manipulation is shown. 4. Primitive and severity reading The exact defect is missing initialization of active TX metadata before rate selection. The later consumer may choose rates for the wrong wireless band, producing unsuitable transmission behavior. The patch also drops frames when no channel context exists. This is neither stale storage nor a lifetime violation, and it does not corrupt memory or cross an authorization boundary. Effects beyond degradation of the affected wireless data path are unsupported. Therefore `PrimitiveClass=NONE`, no Important candidate remains, and automatic Moderate/Low-like handling is permitted. 5. One-sentence report phrase Missing mac80211 TX band initialization can select rates from the wrong wireless band and disrupt the affected offloaded wireless data path without demonstrated memory corruption or security-boundary impact. 6. Manual review advice NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED The patch and supplied evidence show a constrained TX metadata correctness issue with limited wireless-path availability impact. 7. Call-site confidence Call-site confidence: high ====================================================================== UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY ====================================================================== Patch: wifi: mac80211: set info->band for 802.3 encap offload frames [ Upstream Commit: 93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f Changed files: net/mac80211/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=93c1b247224a32f546b616a8fe87b9bab20f0a7f ====================================================================== DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY ====================================================================== The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98700 can be found here: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98700 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:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 3.5 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: unknown 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).