CVE-2026-46163 wifi: b43legacy: enforce bounds check on firmware key index in RX path
An attacker can trigger an out-of-bounds read in the b43legacy Wi-Fi driver by sending crafted frames with invalid key indices, potentially leaking memory or causing a crash.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-46163?
CVE-2026-46163 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 May 2026. 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: b43legacy: enforce bounds check on firmware key index in RX path
Same fix as b43: the firmware-controlled key index in b43legacy_rx() can exceed dev->max_nr_keys. The existing B43legacy_WARN_ON is non-enforcing in production builds, allowing an out-of-bounds read of dev->key[].
Make the check enforcing by dropping the frame for invalid indices.
Weakness: CWE-129
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46163?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-46163?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-46163 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46163 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-89004, BELL-CVE-2026-46163, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46163, GHSA-2qq4-4rxx-pjhm, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46163, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46163 and 3 more.