CVE-2026-58374
MediumCVSS 6.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk20th percentile — higher than 20% of all known CVEs
Summary
In hostapd before version 2.12, a missing bounds check in AP-mode Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) Multi-Link Operation (MLO) association request processing allows an unauthenticated attacker within wireless range to send a crafted management frame with a malformed Multi-Link Element or Per-STA Profile subelement. In hostapd_process_ml_assoc_req() in src/ap/ieee802_11_eht.c, the received link_id field can be parsed as value 15, but the corresponding links[] storage only has valid entries for lower link IDs (0 through 14), causing an out-of-bounds write and small memory corruption before the 4-way handshake.
Risk Assessment
The attack can cause hostapd process termination (denial of service), disabling the access point and affecting Wi-Fi network availability for all connected users.
Recommendation
Immediately update hostapd to version 2.12 or later, which includes the fix. If an update is not possible, temporarily disable Wi-Fi 7 support (CONFIG_IEEE80211BE) in the hostapd configuration.
Original NVD description (English source)
In hostapd before 2.12, a missing bounds check in AP-mode Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) Multi-Link Operation (MLO) association request processing allows an unauthenticated attacker within wireless range to send a crafted management frame containing a malformed Multi-Link Element or Per-STA Profile subelement. In hostapd_process_ml_assoc_req() in src/ap/ieee802_11_eht.c, the received link_id field can be parsed as value 15, but the corresponding links[] storage only has valid entries for lower link IDs (0 through 14). This causes an out-of-bounds write / small memory corruption during association processing before the 4-way handshake. The attack does not require network credentials, prior authentication, or user interaction. The confirmed practical impact is denial of service through hostapd process termination. This affects hostapd v2.11 and newer development snapshots before v2.12 when built with CONFIG_IEEE80211BE enabled. The issue is fixed in hostapd v2.12 and the upstream 2026-1 fixes.