CVE-2026-80641

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's wlcore Wi-Fi driver. An incorrect firmware version check for Integrity Group Temporal Key (IGTK) causes the number of available ciphers to continuously decrease on systems using older firmware, particularly affecting wl12xx chips. This issue leads to repeated hardware recovery and restarts, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the Wi-Fi functionality.

A low impact denial of service flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Texas Instruments (TI) wlcore Wi-Fi driver. An incorrect firmware version check added for Integrity Group Temporal Key (IGTK) support causes the number of ciphers the driver enables to decrease on every boot when the wireless firmware is too old, and the check does not account for chips other than the wl18xx. On wl12xx (wl128x) hardware running older firmware, associating with a Wi-Fi network can fail to install keys in the hardware, triggering repeated wlcore hardware recovery and restart loops that leave the wireless interface unusable. The issue affects only availability of the Wi-Fi functionality; there is no impact to confidentiality or integrity, and the Red Hat CVSS:3.1 score of 5.5 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) reflects its local, availability-only nature. Red Hat Product Security rated this flaw Low impact because it requires specific TI wlcore hardware combined with old wireless firmware and manifests only as loss of wireless connectivity, rather than memory corruption or privilege escalation. The vulnerable code is not present in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, and 10 kernel and kernel-rt packages or in the Red Hat In-Vehicle OS kernels, so those products are not affected; the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Lifecycle Support kernel is out of active support scope.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.