# CVE-2026-98184: wifi: mwifiex: prevent authentication frame length truncation

> A local attacker with CAP_NET_ADMIN can trigger a heap buffer overflow in the mwifiex Wi-Fi driver via integer truncation, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-98184, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98184, GHSA-m63w-cm3m-w2gf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98184

## What is CVE-2026-98184?

CVE-2026-98184 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Oct 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: prevent authentication frame length truncation

mwifiex_cfg80211_authenticate() derives the authentication frame length
from req->ie_len and req->auth_data_len, both of type size_t, but stores
it in a u16.

NL80211_ATTR_AUTH_DATA only has a minimum length policy. Since nla_len is
a u16, a single attribute can carry up to 65531 bytes of payload, so the
sum can exceed U16_MAX before it is assigned to pkt_len. The truncated
pkt_len determines the skb frame area, while the copy length remains
req->auth_data_len - 4, resulting in a heap buffer overflow.

For example, with auth_data_len equal to 65510 and no IEs, the sum is
65546. It is truncated to 10 and then reduced by four to 6. The driver
appends only six bytes to the skb with skb_put(), but then copies 65506
user-provided bytes into the authentication body.

Reaching this path requires CAP_NET_ADMIN in the user namespace owning
the network namespace, an up station netdev, and a suitable BSS/SAE
authentication request.

Compute the length in size_t, reject values that cannot be represented by
the firmware's u16 frame length field, and only then assign it to pkt_len.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98184?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98184?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98184 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98184 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98184 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98184 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Oct 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-2026-98184 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-2026-98184/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98184/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98184
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98184
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98184

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98184/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.