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CVE-2026-23279

Updated on 25 Mar 2026

Severity

5.5 Medium severity

Details

CVSS score
5.5
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE ID
Links
NISTCIRCLRHELUbuntu

Overview

About vulnerability

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).

Details

Affected product:
AlmaLinux 9.2 ESU , Amazon Linux 2 ELS , CentOS 8.4 ELS , CentOS 8.5 ELS , CentOS Stream 8 ELS , Debian 10 ELS , Oracle Linux 7 ELS , TuxCare 9.6 ESU , Ubuntu 16.04 ELS , Ubuntu 18.04 ELS , Ubuntu 20.04 ELS
Affected packages:
kernel @ 5.14.0 (+12 more)

Fixes

KernelCare state

Live-patch status from KernelCare for each operating system.

Operating system Status Covered kernels
Debian 11 Released
37 kernels
  • 5.10.46-5
  • 5.10.70-1
  • 5.10.46-4
  • 5.10.84-1
  • 5.10.92-1
  • 5.10.92-2
  • 5.10.103-1
  • 5.10.106-1
  • 5.10.113-1
  • 5.10.120-1
  • 5.10.127-1
  • 5.10.127-2
  • 5.10.136-1
  • 5.10.140-1
  • 5.10.149-1
  • 5.10.149-2
  • 5.10.158-2
  • 5.10.162-1
  • 5.10.179-1
  • 5.10.179-2
  • 5.10.179-3
  • 5.10.179-5
  • 5.10.191-1
  • 5.10.197-1
  • 5.10.178-3
  • 5.10.205-2
  • 5.10.205-1
  • 5.10.209-2
  • 5.10.216-1
  • 5.10.218-1
  • 5.10.221-1
  • 5.10.223-1
  • 5.10.226-1
  • 5.10.234-1
  • 5.10.237-1
  • 5.10.244-1
  • 5.10.247-1
Debian 11 cloud Released
17 kernels
  • 5.10.113-1
  • 5.10.179-2
  • 5.10.179-3
  • 5.10.179-5
  • 5.10.191-1
  • 5.10.197-1
  • 5.10.205-2
  • 5.10.209-2
  • 5.10.216-1
  • 5.10.218-1
  • 5.10.221-1
  • 5.10.223-1
  • 5.10.226-1
  • 5.10.234-1
  • 5.10.237-1
  • 5.10.244-1
  • 5.10.247-1
Debian 12 In Rollout
35 kernels
  • 6.1.38-1
  • 6.1.38-2
  • 6.1.38-4
  • 6.1.52-1
  • 6.1.55-1
  • 6.1.64-1
  • 6.1.66-1
  • 6.1.69-1
  • 6.1.76-1
  • 6.1.27-1
  • 6.1.67-1
  • 6.1.85-1
  • 6.1.90-1
  • 6.1.94-1
  • 6.1.99-1
  • 6.1.106-3
  • 6.1.112-1
  • 6.1.115-1
  • 6.1.119-1
  • 6.1.123-1
  • 6.1.128-1
  • 6.1.124-1
  • 6.1.129-1
  • 6.1.133-1
  • 6.1.135-1
  • 6.1.137-1
  • 6.1.140-1
  • 6.1.139-1
  • 6.1.147-1
  • 6.1.148-1
  • 6.1.153-1
  • 6.1.158-1
  • 6.1.159-1
  • 6.1.162-1
  • 6.1.164-1
Debian 13 Planned —
Ubuntu 22.04 Planned —
Ubuntu 24.04 Planned —