CVE-2026-68197 wifi: mwifiex: fix NULL dereference when the AP has HT-cap but no HT-oper
A NULL pointer dereference in the mwifiex Wi-Fi driver allows a nearby attacker to crash the Linux kernel by connecting to a specific malformed AP.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-68197?
CVE-2026-68197 is a 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: mwifiex: fix NULL dereference when the AP has HT-cap but no HT-oper
mwifiex_tdls_add_ht_oper() gates its follow-the-AP-bandwidth path on bss_desc->bcn_ht_cap being present, but then dereferences a different pointer, bss_desc->bcn_ht_oper:
if (ISSUPP_CHANWIDTH40(priv->adapter->hw_dot_11n_dev_cap) && bss_desc->bcn_ht_cap && ISALLOWED_CHANWIDTH40(bss_desc->bcn_ht_oper->ht_param))
bcn_ht_cap and bcn_ht_oper are populated independently while parsing the associated AP's beacon in mwifiex_update_bss_desc_with_ie(): an AP that advertises an HT Capabilities element but no HT Operation element leaves bcn_ht_cap non-NULL and bcn_ht_oper NULL. Setting up a TDLS link to a peer while associated to such an AP then dereferences the NULL bcn_ht_oper and crashes the kernel. Every other bcn_ht_oper user in the driver NULL-checks it first.
Guard on the pointer that is actually dereferenced.
Found by 0sec automated security-research tooling (https://0sec.ai).
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68197?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68197?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-68197 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68197 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68197, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68197, GHSA-fw9r-2mhq-c5mq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68197.