VulnerabilityPublished 19 Jul 2026Updated 20 Jul 2026

CVE-2026-63869: Linux kernel · wifi: mac80211: limit injected antenna index in ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-63869· High 7.6

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.6 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 19% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Jul 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-p8w8-3vc5-9f6x

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Linuxlinux/kernel`pkg:rpm/linux/kernel`Other threats	Affected *	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Since this is a Linux kernel vulnerability, monitor for official kernel updates that address this issue and apply them promptly. Avoid using untrusted userspace tools that inject malformed radiotap frames until a fix is applied.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: limit injected antenna index in ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap When parsing the radiotap header of an injected frame, ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap() uses the IEEE80211_RADIOTAP_ANTENNA value directly as a shift count: info->control.antennas |= BIT(*iterator.this_arg); *iterator.this_arg is an 8-bit value taken straight from the frame supplied by userspace, so BIT() can be asked to shift by up to 255. That is undefined behaviour on the unsigned long and is reported by UBSAN: UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in net/mac80211/tx.c:2174:30 shift exponent 235 is too large for 64-bit type 'unsigned long' Call Trace: ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap+0xadb/0x1950 net/mac80211/tx.c:2174 ieee80211_monitor_start_xmit+0xb1f/0x1250 net/mac80211/tx.c:2451 ... packet_sendmsg+0x3eb6/0x50f0 net/packet/af_packet.c:3109 info->control.antennas is a 2-bit bitmap (u8 antennas:2), so only antenna indices 0 and 1 can ever be represented. Ignore any larger value instead of shifting out of bounds.

Impact

The vulnerability causes undefined behavior in kernel code due to out-of-bounds bit shifts, which can lead to kernel instability or crashes. There is no evidence of exploitation in the wild. The impact is primarily a potential denial of service or kernel panic triggered by malformed radiotap headers in injected wifi frames.

Summary

The Linux kernel's mac80211 wifi driver had a vulnerability in ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap where the antenna index from a radiotap header was used directly as a shift count in a BIT() macro. Since the antenna index is an 8-bit value from userspace, it could be as large as 255, causing undefined behavior due to shifting beyond the size of an unsigned long. The antenna bitmap is only 2 bits wide, so only indices 0 and 1 are valid. The fix involves ignoring any antenna index values greater than 1 to avoid out-of-bounds shifts.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Jul 2026, 20:13 UTC

Technical details

References

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