Firmware crash via ignored channel-zero switch announcements
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Denial of service in Linux 6.9 mac80211 allows attackers to crash Intel Wi-Fi firmware via a channel-zero switch announcement. The CSA parser in net/mac80211/spectmgmt.c treats channel zero as absent information, ignoring the invalid announcement instead of disconnecting. Exposure requires an affected mac80211 client receiving that announcement from its access point; the reported consequence is an Intel device firmware crash, not a host kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Linux 6.9 mac80211 allows attackers to crash Intel Wi-Fi firmware via a channel-zero switch announcement. The CSA parser in net/mac80211/spectmgmt.c treats channel zero as absent information, ignoring the invalid announcement instead of disconnecting. Exposure requires an affected mac80211 client receiving that announcement from its access point; the reported consequence is an Intel device firmware crash, not a host kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90344
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- adjacent
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=21c3f8f95554feff9bed15703e89adbe582e0383 <099aadb2012d7490bc584cc5075ef11cbc33f2c3
- Affected versionversion=21c3f8f95554feff9bed15703e89adbe582e0383 <cf57f0a674cc3e3cda1a789359cc1238b61b9d7d
- Affected versionversion=21c3f8f95554feff9bed15703e89adbe582e0383 <e7bc5ab93acd1c3f54feeb9fa19ead3530168090
- Affected versionversion=21c3f8f95554feff9bed15703e89adbe582e0383 <eef374088450bb91626e133c7172b8a0e969a522
- Affected versionversion=6.9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
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