# CVE-2026-68196: wifi: wilc1000: validate assoc response length before subtracting header

> A missing length check in the wilc1000 WiFi driver allows integer underflow, leading to out-of-bounds reads and potential denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 8.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-68196, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68196, GHSA-hm4w-q57w-3qrc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68196

## What is CVE-2026-68196?

CVE-2026-68196 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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: wilc1000: validate assoc response length before subtracting header

wilc_parse_assoc_resp_info() computes the trailing IE length as

	ies_len = buffer_len - sizeof(*res);

without first checking that buffer_len is at least sizeof(struct
wilc_assoc_resp) (6 bytes). buffer_len is the length reported for a
received association response (host_int_parse_assoc_resp_info() passes
hif_drv->assoc_resp / assoc_resp_info_len straight in) and must be
validated before the driver accesses the fixed header.

For a frame shorter than the 6-byte fixed header, the subtraction wraps.
For a four-byte response the result is truncated to a u16 ies_len of
65534, so kmemdup() then attempts to copy 65534 bytes starting at
buffer + sizeof(*res), beyond the valid association-response data
(CWE-125). A response shorter than four bytes can also cause an
out-of-bounds read of res->status_code at offsets 2 and 3.

Reject frames too short to hold the fixed header before touching the
header or computing ies_len. Also set the connection status to a failure
on this path: the caller falls through to a
"conn_info->status == WLAN_STATUS_SUCCESS" check after the parser
returns, so leaving the status untouched could let a malformed short
response be treated as a successful association.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68196?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-68196?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-68196 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68196 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68196 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-68196 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68196 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68196/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68196/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68196
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68196
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68196

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68196/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.