CVE-2026-98703 (GCVE-0-2026-98703)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-10-18 15:46 – Updated: 2026-10-30 12:38
VLAI
Title
wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index The fixed_rate_idx debugfs file is a plain u32 attribute, so any value can be written to it. minstrel_ht_update_stats() then copies the value into mi->max_tp_rate[] and mi->max_prob_rate, and minstrel_ht_set_rate() uses MI_RATE_GROUP()/MI_RATE_IDX() to index minstrel_mcs_groups[] (42 entries) and mi->groups[].rates[] (10 entries) with it. Writing e.g. 65535 selects group 4095 and rate index 15, far outside both arrays. The out-of-bounds entries are dereferenced and updated as struct minstrel_rate_stats (retry counts, etc.), so the invalid index corrupts adjacent kernel memory. With CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS the access is reported as an array-index-out-of-bounds in minstrel_ht_set_rate(). Only a valid group/rate pair, or U32_MAX to disable fixed rate processing, can be used safely, so reject any other value when the debugfs file is written. The file is only reachable through a root-only debugfs mount, so this is not a privilege boundary. The out-of-bounds access is still a bug that must not be reachable through a writable debugfs attribute.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 53/100 over 6820 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < 63097bf1b7f17f14bd9ffcae6590c63272da8bb0 (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < 9b685cfb5cc8ed57991b1a956b06c6658d7cf455 (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < eebc70f132041b35da9ec74d5d395083125289b2 (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < f8ab6ae1fa360b0191252677f41e781dcb0ffe6e (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < 42aa9feb27b600809414a3c6b0c650bafba542a9 (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < 43082d604a9937b94ceb2e484403956d0f363324 (git)
Affected: 24f7580e852b5472b51eea322bb78454df0054b8 , < 15fb9e3cea55fbc378261ce35a32b0f8828f0000 (git)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 3.1
Unaffected: 0 , < 3.1 (semver)
Unaffected: 5.15.224 , ≤ 5.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.191 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6.160 , ≤ 6.6.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.113 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18.56 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2.10 , ≤ 7.2.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.3 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
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{
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        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index\n\nThe fixed_rate_idx debugfs file is a plain u32 attribute, so any value\ncan be written to it.  minstrel_ht_update_stats() then copies the value\ninto mi-\u003emax_tp_rate[] and mi-\u003emax_prob_rate, and\nminstrel_ht_set_rate() uses MI_RATE_GROUP()/MI_RATE_IDX() to index\nminstrel_mcs_groups[] (42 entries) and mi-\u003egroups[].rates[] (10 entries)\nwith it.\n\nWriting e.g. 65535 selects group 4095 and rate index 15, far outside\nboth arrays.  The out-of-bounds entries are dereferenced and updated as\nstruct minstrel_rate_stats (retry counts, etc.), so the invalid index\ncorrupts adjacent kernel memory.  With CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS the access is\nreported as an array-index-out-of-bounds in minstrel_ht_set_rate().\n\nOnly a valid group/rate pair, or U32_MAX to disable fixed rate\nprocessing, can be used safely, so reject any other value when the\ndebugfs file is written.\n\nThe file is only reachable through a root-only debugfs mount, so this is\nnot a privilege boundary.  The out-of-bounds access is still a bug that\nmust not be reachable through a writable debugfs attribute."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-30T12:38:53.843Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
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          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63097bf1b7f17f14bd9ffcae6590c63272da8bb0"
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    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98703",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-18T15:46:33.395Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.365Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-30T12:38:53.843Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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      "date": "2026-11-02",
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      "cve": "CVE-2026-98703",
      "id": "msrc_CVE-2026-98703",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-20T01:08:58.000Z",
      "product_status:known_affected": "2",
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      "source": "Microsoft CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index",
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      "version": "4"
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        "descriptions": [
          {
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            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index\n\nThe fixed_rate_idx debugfs file is a plain u32 attribute, so any value\ncan be written to it.  minstrel_ht_update_stats() then copies the value\ninto mi-\u003emax_tp_rate[] and mi-\u003emax_prob_rate, and\nminstrel_ht_set_rate() uses MI_RATE_GROUP()/MI_RATE_IDX() to index\nminstrel_mcs_groups[] (42 entries) and mi-\u003egroups[].rates[] (10 entries)\nwith it.\n\nWriting e.g. 65535 selects group 4095 and rate index 15, far outside\nboth arrays.  The out-of-bounds entries are dereferenced and updated as\nstruct minstrel_rate_stats (retry counts, etc.), so the invalid index\ncorrupts adjacent kernel memory.  With CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS the access is\nreported as an array-index-out-of-bounds in minstrel_ht_set_rate().\n\nOnly a valid group/rate pair, or U32_MAX to disable fixed rate\nprocessing, can be used safely, so reject any other value when the\ndebugfs file is written.\n\nThe file is only reachable through a root-only debugfs mount, so this is\nnot a privilege boundary.  The out-of-bounds access is still a bug that\nmust not be reachable through a writable debugfs attribute."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-98703",
        "lastModified": "2026-10-30T13:21:19.460",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-10-18T16:17:23.810",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
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        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Received"
      }
    },
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-22T10:16:23+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98703",
      "id": "CVE-2026-98703",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-18T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "278",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98703.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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