CVE-2026-64174: wifi: cfg80211: advance loop vars in cfg80211_merge_profile()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-07-19 · updated 2026-08-13

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: advance loop vars in cfg80211_merge_profile() cfg80211_merge_profile() reassembles a Multi-BSSID non-transmitted BSS profile that has been split across multiple consecutive MBSSID elements. Its while-loop calls cfg80211_get_profile_continuation(ie, ielen, mbssid_elem, sub_elem) but never advances mbssid_elem or sub_elem inside the body. Each iteration therefore searches for a continuation that follows the same fixed pair; the helper returns the same next_mbssid; and the same next_sub bytes are memcpy()'d into merged_ie at a growing offset until the buffer fills. Advance both mbssid_elem and sub_elem to the just-consumed continuation so the next call to cfg80211_get_profile_continuation() searches for a further continuation beyond it (or returns NULL when none exists). A specially-crafted malicious beacon can take advantage of this bug to cause the kernel to spend an excessive amount of time in cfg80211_merge_profile (up to as much as 2ms per beacon received), which could theoretically be abused in some way.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.2 before 5.10.258; from 5.11 before 5.15.209; from 5.16 before 6.1.175; from 6.2 before 6.6.142; from 6.7 before 6.12.92; from 6.13 before 6.18.34 — fixed in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.12.92, 6.18.34, 6.6.142

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.12.92. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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