CVE-2024-53189 wifi: nl80211: fix bounds checker error in nl80211_parse_sched_scan

What is CVE-2024-53189?

CVE-2024-53189 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Dec 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: nl80211: fix bounds checker error in nl80211_parse_sched_scan

The channels array in the cfg80211_scan_request has a __counted_by attribute attached to it, which points to the n_channels variable. This attribute is used in bounds checking, and if it is not set before the array is filled, then the bounds sanitizer will issue a warning or a kernel panic if CONFIG_UBSAN_TRAP is set.

This patch sets the size of allocated memory as the initial value for n_channels. It is updated with the actual number of added elements after the array is filled.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53189?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-53189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2024-53189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-53189, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53189, GHSA-qw2p-m25f-7rcr, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53189.