UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68469: Medium severity ubuntu/linux vulnerability
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mwifiex: fix permanently busy scans after multiple roam iterations In order for the firmware to sleep, the driver has to confirm a previously received sleep request. The normal sequence of evets goes like this: EVENTSLEEP -> adapter->psstate = PSSTATEPRESLEEP -> sleep-confirm -> SLEEP -> EVENTAWAKE -> AWAKE. Before sending the sleep-confirm command, the driver must make sure there are no commands either running or waiting to be completed. mwifiexret80211associate() unconditionally sets psstate = PSSTATEAWAKE when it processes the association command response, outside of the normal powersave management flow. If EVENTSLEEP arrives while the association command is in flight, psstate is PRESLEEP when the association command response is parsed, and the forced AWAKE overwrites it. The deferred sleep-confirm is never sent. A subsequent scanstart command is correctly acknowledged, but the firmware doesn't generate scanresult events. The scan request never finishes, and additional requests from userspace fail with -EBUSY. After testing on both IW412 and W8997, I could only trigger the bug on the IW412 and observed the firmwares behave differently. On the IW412 the firmware still sends EVENTSLEEP while the authentication / association process is ongoing. A W8997 under the same conditions seems to suppress power-save for the duration of the association, so PRESLEEP never coincided with the association response even after extended periods of testing using the loops described below (>12hours). On the IW412, the delay between commands that triggers an EVENTSLEEP was empirically determined to be ~20ms. This delay can naturally occur when the driver is outputting debugging information (debugmask = 0x00000037), in which situation the busy scans issue is repeatable while running "test 1)" as described below. If the delay between commands is less than ~20ms, the firmware stays awake and the issue was not reproducible running the same test. The hostmlme=false path also behaves differently. In this case, the entire authentication / association transaction is executed by one command (HostCmdCMD80211ASSOCIATE), and the firmware doesn't emit EVENTSLEEP while the command is running. Remove the assignment so the psstate is only manipulated in the paths that are related to powersave event handling and on the main workqueue for correct sleep confirmation. The following loop tests were performed (with debugging output enabled): 1) force roaming between two AP's, one 5GHz and one 2.4GHz, same SSID. Use wpacli to trigger the roaming behavior, sleep 2s between iterations. 2) force a disconnection to AP 1 and a connection to AP 2, test scan. Use wpacli to trigger the connection changes, sleep 2s between iterations. Each test ran in each device for at least 3 hours.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
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ubuntu/linux-riscvto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 7.0.0-38.38.1 - Configuration
Before sending the sleep-confirm command, ensure that no commands are running or queued.
mwifiex driver sleep-confirm command sequencing = send only when no commands are running or waiting to be completed - Configuration
Remove the assignment that unconditionally sets ps_state = PS_STATE_AWAKE when the association command response is processed; manipulate ps_state only in powersave event-handling paths and the main workqueue for sleep confirmation.
mwifiex driver ps_state assignment in mwifiex_ret_802_11_associate() = remove the unconditional PS_STATE_AWAKE assignment
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Ubuntu kernel package variants are listed as affected?
The listed packages are ubuntu/linux, ubuntu/linux-fips, ubuntu/linux-aws, ubuntu/linux-azure, ubuntu/linux-aws-fips, ubuntu/linux-azure-fips, ubuntu/linux-gcp, and ubuntu/linux-gcp-fips.
What conditions lead to the scan failure?
The issue occurs when a firmware sleep event arrives while an association command is still in flight. The association response can then overwrite the pre-sleep power-save state, preventing the deferred sleep confirmation from being sent.
How can an administrator recognize the issue in an affected system?
A scan-start command may be acknowledged but no scan-result events are generated, so the scan never completes. Further scan requests from userspace can fail with -EBUSY, particularly after multiple roam iterations.