CVE-2026-97517: wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation

Published Sep 24, 2026
·
Updated

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

wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation

The HE operation element not only needs to be longer than the fixed part, but also have an appropriate size for the variable part inside of it. Check this.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Linux Linux kernel

Event History

Sep 24, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·04:05 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·04:05 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via NVD·05:17 PM
Description

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What would an attacker need to provide to trigger this issue?

The attacker would need to send a Wi-Fi beacon containing an HE operation element whose variable portion has an inappropriate size.

2

Which component processes the malformed data?

The affected handling is in the Linux kernel's Wi-Fi nl80211 path when processing beacons with HE operation elements.

Contact

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