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CVE-2026-98936 json

wifi: ath11k: reset ar->num_stations on hardware start

published 19d ago modified 12d ago also EUVD-2026-108908

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 7%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: ath11k: reset ar->num_stations on hardware start

When (multiple) hw restart occurs, we end up in a situation where we cannot accept new stations / mesh peers. This seems to be the 'num_stations' in 'struct ath11k' that did not get reset properly in this case. In ath11k_mac_op_start(), it was indeed the only accounting var that did not get reset so let's clear it too.

This avoids problems like those:

[1248828.088023] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 12281 at net/mac80211/util.c:1682 ieee80211_reconfig_stations+0x98/0xc0 [1248828.088115] Call trace: [1248828.088116] ieee80211_reconfig_stations+0x98/0xc0 (P) [1248828.088119] ieee80211_reconfig+0x774/0x1438 [1248828.088123] ieee80211_restart_work+0x10c/0x178 [1248828.088127] process_one_work+0x178/0x3c0 [1248828.088130] worker_thread+0x280/0x440 [1248828.088133] kthread+0xe0/0xf8 [1248828.088137] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [1248828.088141] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [1248836.686604] ath11k_pci 0000:04:00.0: refusing to associate station: too many connected already (128) [1248836.686609] ath11k_pci 0000:04:00.0: Failed to add station: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx for VDEV: 1

Tested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.9.0.1-01977-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 7.3
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.113-1
  • linux Debian 14 7.2.10-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98936

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-149.149
  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-43.43
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1069.74
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.18
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1073.81
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.19
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1068.77
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1010.11

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98936

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1.159998.21.42
  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
  • kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:24550-1SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-98936 updated cvss 5.3

kernel: kernel: ath11k: Denial of Service via unreset station counter during hardware restart

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 7% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.