CVE-2026-46248 wifi: ath12k: clear stale link mapping of ahvif->links_map

Medium 5.5 Published 3 Jun 2026 Updated 3 Jun 2026

A stale link mapping in the ath12k WiFi driver causes a kernel warning and potential denial of service when MLO connection preparation fails.

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-2026-46248?

CVE-2026-46248 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jun 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: ath12k: clear stale link mapping of ahvif->links_map

When an arvif is initialized in non-AP STA mode but MLO connection preparation fails before the arvif is created (arvif->is_created remains false), the error path attempts to delete all links. However, link deletion only executes when arvif->is_created is true. As a result, ahvif retains a stale entry of arvif that is initialized but not created.

When a new arvif is initialized with the same link id, this stale mapping triggers the following WARN_ON.

WARNING: drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c:4271 at ath12k_mac_op_change_vif_links+0x140/0x180 [ath12k], CPU#3: wpa_supplicant/275

Call trace: ath12k_mac_op_change_vif_links+0x140/0x180 [ath12k] (P) drv_change_vif_links+0xbc/0x1a4 [mac80211] ieee80211_vif_update_links+0x54c/0x6a0 [mac80211] ieee80211_vif_set_links+0x40/0x70 [mac80211] ieee80211_prep_connection+0x84/0x450 [mac80211] ieee80211_mgd_auth+0x200/0x480 [mac80211] ieee80211_auth+0x14/0x20 [mac80211] cfg80211_mlme_auth+0x90/0xf0 [cfg80211] nl80211_authenticate+0x32c/0x380 [cfg80211] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xc8/0x134

Fix this issue by unassigning the link vif and clearing ahvif->links_map if arvif is only initialized but not created.

Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.5-01651-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46248?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-46248?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-46248 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46248 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-46248, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46248, GHSA-ccjm-3xx6-g84m, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46248.