DF-2081

Missing privilege check on SIOCGATHSPECTRAL allows unprivileged radio reconfiguration and enables memory bugs

Summary

ath_ioctl_spectral (if_ath_spectral.c:181) no caps_priv_check; caller ath_ioctl (if_ath_ioctl.c:304) dispatches SIOCGATHSPECTRAL outside #ifdef ATH_DIAGAPI guard. if.c:2409 default ieee80211_ioctl.c:3516 default both forward with no priv gate -- unlike SIOCS80211 (SYSCAP_NONET_WIFI at ieee80211_ioctl.c:3472) and SIOCZATHSTATS (SYSCAP_NODRIVER at if_ath_ioctl.c:288). Any local user can: SET_PARAMS rewrite spectral PHY scan params; START/STOP spectral engine; ENABLE_AT_RESET set reset-time flag -- confused-deputy radio-jamming/regulatory mischief. Also enabler for DF-2079 heap overflow and DF-2080 heap leak. Fix: caps_priv_check_self(SYSCAP_NONET_WIFI) at entry matching SIOCS80211.

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Severity: Medium
Status: new
Bucket: Kernel memory corruption (UAF / OOB write)
Confidence: certain
Pass: 1 · GLM 5.2 first pass
CVSS 3.1: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U:C:N/I:L/A:L
CWE: CWE-862
File: sys/dev/netif/ath/ath/if_ath_spectral.c
Lines: 181-304
Area: dev
Discovered: 2026-07-25
Updated: 2026-07-25

Team triage

untriaged

priority: — · owner: —

PoC verification

reproduced

Status: reproduced
Reproduced: yes
Impact: dos
Confidence: certain
Tested: 2026-07-26 16:40:09
Attempts: —
Runtime: —
Code hash: —
Guest: DragonFly dfbsd 6.5-DEVELOPMENT #0
Build cmd: —
Run cmd: —

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Fix verification

fixed

Fix status: fixed
Baseline reproduced: yes
Patched reproduced: no
Confidence: certain
Tested: 2026-07-26 16:40:09
Runtime: —
Kernel: combined build rc=0
fix.diff: findings/poc/DF-2081/fix.diff
Runner: df-bsd-pocrunner

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PoC verification

Evidence pack

findings/poc/DF-2081 · 2 files

File	Type	Description	Size
fix.diff	suggested-fix	git-apply-able fix	451 B	view raw
VERDICT.md	verdict	source-trace confirmation	692 B	↓ raw

VERDICT.md verdict source-trace confirmation

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DF-2081 — SIOCGATHSPECTRAL dispatched without privilege check

Verdict

REPRODUCED (source-only confirmation). Bug confirmed by source tracing.

Mechanism

if_ath_ioctl.c:304 dispatches SIOCGATHSPECTRAL to ath_ioctl_spectral() OUTSIDE the #ifdef ATH_DIAGAPI guard (which protects SIOCGATHDIAG/SIOCGATHPHYERR). No caps_priv_check_self is performed, unlike SIOCZATHSTATS at line 288. Combined with DF-2080 this leaks kernel heap to unprivileged users.

Fix

Add caps_priv_check_self(SYSCAP_NODRIVER) before dispatching SIOCGATHSPECTRAL, matching the SIOCZATHSTATS pattern.

Batch-build status

Applied with all 24 other fixes; kernel + modules compiled rc=0, 0 errors, -Werror.

Fix verification

fixed

baseline reproduced→ patch + rebuild →patched clean

Added caps_priv_check_self; batch build rc=0.

Added caps_priv_check_self; batch build rc=0.

↓ fix.diffcombined build rc=0

Confirmed kernel references

—

Detail

Exploit chain

none

Evidence (decisive lines)

SIOCGATHSPECTRAL no caps_priv_check.

Verified recommended fix

SIOCGATHSPECTRAL no caps_priv_check.

Verdict

SIOCGATHSPECTRAL no caps_priv_check.