CVE-2026-23373

Vulnerability

Overview

In the Linux kernel's rsi WiFi driver, the rsi_mac80211_config function was found to return the error code -EOPNOTSUPP by default. This behavior is inconsistent with other wireless drivers, which typically return 0 to indicate success. The issue triggers a WARN_ON in the ieee80211_hw_conf_init function, as the kernel expects a successful return from the driver configuration response [1][2].

Root

Cause and Impact

The root cause is a logic error in the driver's configuration callback. Instead of returning 0 to signal that the configuration was handled (or that no action was needed), the driver returns -EOPNOTSUPP, which is interpreted as an operation not supported. This leads to a kernel warning being emitted, which can cause unnecessary log spam and potentially destabilize the system if the warning is treated as a bug [3][4].

Mitigation

The fix, which has been applied to the Linux kernel stable branches, changes the default return value to 0, aligning the driver's behavior with other wireless drivers and preventing the spurious warning. Users are advised to update their kernel to a version containing this patch has been applied to [1][2][3][4].