CVE-2026-97517 wifi: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation
A missing size check in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem allows attackers to cause a denial of service by sending malformed HE operation beacons.
- 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-2026-97517?
CVE-2026-97517 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Sep 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: nl80211: reject beacons with bad HE operation
The HE operation element not only needs to be longer than the fixed part, but also have an appropriate size for the variable part inside of it. Check this.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97517?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97517?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-97517 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97517 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-103937, BELL-CVE-2026-97517, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97517, GHSA-j7pv-67gg-x7c9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97517.