wifi: ath11k: cap out-of-range rx MCS instead of leaving bogus rate
Key facts
- Attack vector
- —
- Privileges required
- —
- User interaction
- —
- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- —
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath11k: cap out-of-range rx MCS instead of leaving bogus rate ath11k can receive HT/VHT/HE frames whose reported MCS is above the maximum that can be expressed in the corresponding mac80211 rate space (e.g. an HE frame reported with MCS 12, while HE tops out at MCS 11). The frame itself is valid and decodes correctly, but for such a frame ath11k_dp_rx_h_rate() leaves rx_status->rate_idx set to the out-of-range value and never assigns rx_status->encoding, so it stays RX_ENC_LEGACY from the ath11k_dp_rx_h_ppdu() initialization. Once that frame reaches mac80211 it trips the rate sanity check and the frame is dropped with a splat: ath11k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Received with invalid mcs in HE mode 12 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 0 at net/mac80211/rx.c:5433 ieee80211_rx_list+0xb0a/0xe90 [mac80211] Dropping the frame would discard otherwise valid data, so instead cap the reported MCS to the maximum the rate space can express and deliver the frame. Set rx_status->encoding before the range check and assign rate_idx from the capped value, so a frame with an out-of-range MCS no longer leaves partial or bogus rate metadata behind. Also downgrade the logging level since they are not treated as invalid frames now. The only loss is that such a frame is reported as the capped MCS in the rx rate statistics. Tested-on: WCN6855 hw2.1 PCI WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3.6510.41
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.52, 7.2.6, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-93271
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-322g-prc2-r52c
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ad04c3e2ec54bf5ec72c81afdd66318a116c539
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a6b951f79e66fc8bd93a537ff1040fbfb567c8bf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b77bfe6e59b98dff3ccfcf9b45fc27e3db498626
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb7b9a7209f839c17c66484dfdc84c9a23c6fd2f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0b3e6f9645d88f387c4fea546048a91952cd4cd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2bb2a778a487305bd378db5fd5014fbdce4ada2c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ccbd20f2168f581d90265da1a925b9b6472a0b05
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12b09e478aa7459b7893a695ef77682202f2da83
More Linux vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
Sources
- CVE-2026-93271 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-93271 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-322g-prc2-r52c · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-93271 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences