Station count not reset on restart in Linux kernel ath11k driver
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
The Linux kernel ath11k wireless driver, from 5.6 onward, does not reset its station counter when the hardware starts again. After one or more hardware restarts, the driver refuses new stations and mesh peers and logs warnings in the mac80211 reconfiguration path. The flaw is tracked as an accounting error in the driver's num_stations field.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath11k: reset ar->num_stations on hardware start When (multiple) hw restart occurs, we end up in a situation where we cannot accept new stations / mesh peers. This seems to be the 'num_stations' in 'struct ath11k' that did not get reset properly in this case. In ath11k_mac_op_start(), it was indeed the only accounting var that did not get reset so let's clear it too. This avoids problems like those: [1248828.088023] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 12281 at net/mac80211/util.c:1682 ieee80211_reconfig_stations+0x98/0xc0 [1248828.088115] Call trace: [1248828.088116] ieee80211_reconfig_stations+0x98/0xc0 (P) [1248828.088119] ieee80211_reconfig+0x774/0x1438 [1248828.088123] ieee80211_restart_work+0x10c/0x178 [1248828.088127] process_one_work+0x178/0x3c0 [1248828.088130] worker_thread+0x280/0x440 [1248828.088133] kthread+0xe0/0xf8 [1248828.088137] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [1248828.088141] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [1248836.686604] ath11k_pci 0000:04:00.0: refusing to associate station: too many connected already (128) [1248836.686609] ath11k_pci 0000:04:00.0: Failed to add station: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx for VDEV: 1 Tested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.9.0.1-01977-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 or 7.3, depending on the branch in use. The sources list no fixed version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10, or for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10, 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
- 2026-10-23 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98936
- 2026-10-23 Alias added: GHSA-v332-427p-q486
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@302b622d5f3c9ef5efa36e41e69d278599265cfc, Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +3 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 3 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/302b622d5f3c9ef5efa36e41e69d278599265cfc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5f814ca9a68fd12a51fe82c36a4a876f5b8329f1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a78f2d082f72e3c140c4542cade7f7f56f3cc62d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60142eb2afda34508e640a3ff2a54c90e51525cc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3ac51701e925e8d50479ae2fddca51a09f636e8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a9467f7cc633b31e4c34a2c56aa095e0c3fa853
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c27779d3679c695674747744390f97a5424a0dc8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e0ad05ebc72fffba2bdf2400400902d94ed7272
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-2026-98936 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98936 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-v332-427p-q486 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98936 · 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