Bug 2546367 (CVE-2026-98184)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98184 kernel: wifi: mwifiex: prevent authentication frame length truncation
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mwifiex driver. An integer truncation vulnerability occurs during authentication frame length calculation, causing the driver to allocate an undersized memory buffer. A local attacker with network administration privileges can exploit this issue by submitting a crafted authentication request with oversized authentication data, triggering a heap-based buffer overflow that may result in a denial of service (DoS) or potential arbitrary code execution.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-06 09:07:01 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: mwifiex: prevent authentication frame length truncation

mwifiex_cfg80211_authenticate() derives the authentication frame length
from req->ie_len and req->auth_data_len, both of type size_t, but stores
it in a u16.

NL80211_ATTR_AUTH_DATA only has a minimum length policy. Since nla_len is
a u16, a single attribute can carry up to 65531 bytes of payload, so the
sum can exceed U16_MAX before it is assigned to pkt_len. The truncated
pkt_len determines the skb frame area, while the copy length remains
req->auth_data_len - 4, resulting in a heap buffer overflow.

For example, with auth_data_len equal to 65510 and no IEs, the sum is
65546. It is truncated to 10 and then reduced by four to 6. The driver
appends only six bytes to the skb with skb_put(), but then copies 65506
user-provided bytes into the authentication body.

Reaching this path requires CAP_NET_ADMIN in the user namespace owning
the network namespace, an up station netdev, and a suitable BSS/SAE
authentication request.

Compute the length in size_t, reject values that cannot be represented by
the firmware's u16 frame length field, and only then assign it to pkt_len.