Kernel denial of service via duplicate Wi-Fi ciphers
Published Sep 24, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
A memory-safety flaw in The Linux Kernel Organization Linux before 6.12.111 or 6.18.53 allows local users to interrupt kernel service via malformed Wi-Fi cipher data. cfg80211 accepts duplicate wiphy cipher suites, and WEXT compatibility code appends a WEP key length for each entry into the fixed iw_range::encoding_size array, causing an overflow. Exploitation requires loading or registering a wireless driver that supplies duplicate cipher entries; the resulting kernel memory corruption can crash or destabilize the system.
Summary
What happened
A memory-safety flaw in The Linux Kernel Organization Linux before 6.12.111 or 6.18.53 allows local users to interrupt kernel service via malformed Wi-Fi cipher data. cfg80211 accepts duplicate wiphy cipher suites, and WEXT compatibility code appends a WEP key length for each entry into the fixed iw_range::encoding_size array, causing an overflow. Exploitation requires loading or registering a wireless driver that supplies duplicate cipher entries; the resulting kernel memory corruption can crash or destabilize the system.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-97518
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <6.12.111
- Affected versionversion=0 <6.18.53
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <1305f8b925fe92edf5fec183588dfc7db719180b
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4cbb2360f4d8c29e67bc7a8bf6ba0ae096583923
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7187d145d9042b037e4f10538f70cf95e380219f
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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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
Your stack
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Your stack
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