wifi: mac80211: fix NULL pointer dereference in mesh_rx_csa_frame() (Linux Linux)

CVE-2026-23279
MEDIUM 5.5

At a glance

Source
NVD
EPSS
EPSS 0.14 % · percentile 4 ()
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
Linux
NVD status
Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: fix NULL pointer dereference in mesh_rx_csa_frame() In mesh_rx_csa_frame(), elems->mesh_chansw_params_ie is dereferenced at lines 1638 and 1642 without a prior NULL check: ifmsh->chsw_ttl = elems->mesh_chansw_params_ie->mesh_ttl; ... pre_value = le16_to_cpu(elems->mesh_chansw_params_ie->mesh_pre_value); The mesh_matches_local() check above only validates the Mesh ID, Mesh Configuration, and Supported Rates IEs. It does not verify the presence of the Mesh Channel Switch Parameters IE (element ID 118). When a received CSA action frame omits that IE, ieee802_11_parse_elems() leaves elems->mesh_chansw_params_ie as NULL, and the unconditional dereference causes a kernel NULL pointer dereference. A remote mesh peer with an established peer link (PLINK_ESTAB) can trigger this by sending a crafted SPECTRUM_MGMT/CHL_SWITCH action frame that includes a matching Mesh ID and Mesh Configuration IE but omits the Mesh Channel Switch Parameters IE. No authentication beyond the default open mesh peering is required. Crash confirmed on kernel 6.17.0-5-generic via mac80211_hwsim: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:ieee80211_mesh_rx_queued_mgmt+0x143/0x2a0 [mac80211] CR2: 0000000000000000 Fix by adding a NULL check for mesh_chansw_params_ie after mesh_matches_local() returns, consistent with how other optional IEs are guarded throughout the mesh code. The bug has been present since v3.13 (released 2014-01-19).

Weaknesses (CWE)

  • CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

References

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HNVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

European references

CERT-FR advisories

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
Linux · Linuxaffected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < 753ad20dcbe36b67088c7770d8fc357d7cc43e08 ; affected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < f061336f072ab03fd29270ae61fede46bf8fd69d ; affected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < 2b5f282b1b7241ef624c3399a1cdff0bb1a3eeab ; affected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < 22a9adea7e26d236406edc0ea00b54351dd56b9c ; affected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < f5d8af683410a8c82e48b51291915bd612523d9a ; affected 8f2535b92d685c68db4bc699dd78462a646f6ef9 < cc6d5a3c0a854aeae00915fc5386570c86029c60
Linux · Linuxaffected 3.13 ; unaffected 0 < 3.13 ; unaffected 5.10.253 ≤ 5.10.* ; unaffected 5.15.203 ≤ 5.15.* ; unaffected 6.1.167 ≤ 6.1.* ; unaffected 6.6.130 ≤ 6.6.*

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD