CVE-2026-97516 json
wifi: rtw88: Add NULL check for chip->edcca_th in rtw_fw_adaptivity_result()
published 2026-09-24 45 d ago modified 2026-10-03 36 d ago also EUVD-2026-86114
- 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 4%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: rtw88: Add NULL check for chip->edcca_th in rtw_fw_adaptivity_result()
It was recently reported that rtw_fw_adaptivity_result() in fw.c dereferences rtwdev->chip->edcca_th without a NULL check. The issue is that devices with the 8821CE chip don't define edcca_th in their chip info. As a result, when rtw_fw_adaptivity_result() tries to dereference it, the kernel triggers an oops.
Add a NULL check for edcca_th before dereferencing it in rtw_fw_adaptivity_result() in fw.c. Placing the check at the function entry avoids logging any garbage values.
This change does not address the root cause for this behavior, but it prevents the NULL dereference and the resulting oops while a more permanent solution is developed.
Tested on a 8822CE chip which defines edcca_th, so this issue is not present on it, but it still uses this driver and I can verify there are no regressions.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2
- linux Debian 12 6.1.190-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.111-1
- linux Debian 14 7.2.6-1
- linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.111-1~deb12u1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97516
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.17
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.18
- linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
- linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42.1
- linux-oracle Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.16
- linux-hwe-7.0 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
- linux-oem-7.0 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97516
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
- kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.158.1-1
azure linux advisories AZL-103733
Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a8cdb18ef80d67790d8611ba94ae3d81901c9e04 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b58a5ac9170a6f5e6425f8e1a4b3e1d9c2bf53d commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/6fa23cafaf30f4877e357f8eebcff00dff4aa9cb commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d1f250432cd8704c3c125168887f9724021c81a commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5e6f353ce1e1c25b8458ea390ed09d2377412c5 commit
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-2026-97516 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: wifi: rtw88: Add NULL check for chip->edcca_th in rtw_fw_adaptivity_result()
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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-9affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
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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 morenot 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
0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/a8cdb18ef80d67790d8611ba94ae3d81901c9e04
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/0b58a5ac9170a6f5e6425f8e1a4b3e1d9c2bf53d
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/6fa23cafaf30f4877e357f8eebcff00dff4aa9cb
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/1d1f250432cd8704c3c125168887f9724021c81a
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/d5e6f353ce1e1c25b8458ea390ed09d2377412c5
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-97516
- NVD CVE-2026-97516
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