CVE-2026-97518
Received Received - Intake

WiFi: cfg80211 Duplicate Cipher Suite Entry Validation Flaw

Publication date: 2026-09-24

Last updated on: 2026-09-24

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: reject duplicate wiphy cipher suite entries Duplicate entries in wiphy->cipher_suites do not describe any additional capability, but cfg80211 currently accepts them and leaves individual consumers to deal with them. One such consumer is the WEXT compatibility code, which appends a WEP key length for each WEP cipher entry it sees. Repeated WEP entries can therefore overflow the fixed iw_range::encoding_size array returned by SIOCGIWRANGE. Reject duplicate cipher suite entries in wiphy_register() instead. This keeps the cipher suite invariant in one place and makes malformed wiphy descriptions fail early with -EINVAL, rather than relying on a single cfg80211 user to handle duplicates correctly.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-24
Last Modified
2026-09-24
Generated
2026-09-24
AI Q&A
2026-09-24
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-97518
EUVD
EUVD-2026-86116

Affected Vendors & Products

Currently, no data is known.

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Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves duplicate entries in the wifi configuration's cipher suite list. The kernel's cfg80211 component currently accepts these duplicates, which do not add any real capability but can cause issues in compatibility code like WEXT. Specifically, repeated WEP cipher entries can overflow a fixed-size array in the WEXT compatibility layer, leading to potential memory corruption or crashes.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's cfg80211 subsystem and involves duplicate cipher suite entries in wiphy configurations. Detection requires checking kernel logs for wiphy registration errors or inspecting wireless driver configurations for malformed cipher suite entries. No direct commands are provided in the context to detect this issue.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability could cause system instability, crashes, or unexpected behavior in wireless network operations. Systems using affected Linux kernel versions might experience Wi-Fi connectivity issues or security failures due to memory corruption in the cipher suite handling code.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the latest Linux kernel updates to patch this vulnerability. Monitor kernel logs for wiphy registration failures or duplicate cipher suite warnings. Ensure wireless drivers are updated to versions compatible with the patched kernel.

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