# CVE-2026-98703: wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index

CVE-2026-98703 is fixed in 12 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98703, released October 19, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

- Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98703
- Priority: Routine
- CVSS: 6.3 (Moderate)
- EPSS: 0.0021
- CISA KEV: not listed
- Exploited (vendor report): no
- Publicly disclosed: no
- Published: Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98703

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:  wifi: mac80211: minstrel_ht: validate fixed rate index  The fixed_rate_idx debugfs file is a plain u32 attribute, so any value can be written to it.  minstrel_ht_update_stats() then copies the value into mi->max_tp_rate[] and mi->max_prob_rate, and minstrel_ht_set_rate() uses MI_RATE_GROUP()/MI_RATE_IDX() to index minstrel_mcs_groups[] (42 entries) and mi->groups[].rates[] (10 entries) with it.  Writing e.g. 65535 selects group 4095 and rate index 15, far outside both arrays.  The out-of-bounds entries are dereferenced and updated as struct minstrel_rate_stats (retry counts, etc.), so the invalid index corrupts adjacent kernel memory.  With CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS the access is reported as an array-index-out-of-bounds in minstrel_ht_set_rate().  Only a valid group/rate pair, or U32_MAX to disable fixed rate processing, can be used safely, so reject any other value when the debugfs file is written.  The file is only reachable through a root-only debugfs mount, so this is not a privilege boundary.  The out-of-bounds access is still a bug that must not be reachable through a writable debugfs attribute.

## Where it's fixed

| Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | kernel-64kb sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-azure sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-default sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-default-base sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1.150700.17.51.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-docs sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_24 sles 15.7 | 1-150700.15.3.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-obs-build sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-source sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-syms sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | kernel-zfcpdump sles 15.7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-5091-1.md) | Nov 7, 2026 |
| Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.113-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98703](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98703.md) | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Linux | linux Debian 14 | 7.2.10-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98703](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98703.md) | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Linux | linux-6.12 Debian 12.15 (bookworm) | 6.12.113-1~deb12u1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98703](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98703.md) | Oct 19, 2026 |

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Data as of 2026-11-08T00:53:09Z UTC. Source: Patchblox Patch Radar (https://patchblox.com/security/patch-radar). Patchblox finds out-of-date software on Windows, macOS and Linux and updates it through release rings: https://patchblox.com/demo

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