CVE-2026-68472 wifi: cfg80211: validate EHT MLE before MLD ID read
A malicious access point can cause a kernel crash by sending a malformed EHT multi-link element, requiring a patch to validate element size before reading fields.
- 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-2026-68472?
CVE-2026-68472 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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: cfg80211: validate EHT MLE before MLD ID read
cfg80211_gen_new_ie() copies ML probe response elements from the parent frame when the parent EHT multi-link element has an MLD ID matching the nontransmitted BSSID index.
The code only checked that the extension element had more than one byte before calling ieee80211_mle_get_mld_id(). That helper assumes a BASIC MLE with enough common info and documents that callers must first use ieee80211_mle_type_ok().
Attack chain: malicious AP sends a short EHT MLE in an MBSSID beacon. cfg80211_inform_bss_frame_data() stores the copied IE buffer. cfg80211_parse_mbssid_data() builds the nontransmitted BSS IE. cfg80211_gen_new_ie() sees the EHT MLE in the parent frame. ieee80211_mle_get_mld_id() then reads past the IE boundary.
Validate the MLE type and size before reading the MLD ID. This matches the contract required by the MLE helper and rejects the short element before any internal MLE fields are accessed.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68472?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68472?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-68472 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68472 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68472, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68472, GHSA-chr6-4qp3-f3h9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68472.