Linux Kernel mac80211 Bit Corruption Vulnerability on 32-Bit Systems

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's mac80211 component can lead to incorrect handling of bit flags on 32-bit systems. This issue arises because the unsigned long data type is 4 bytes, while a u64 is 8 bytes. The vulnerability occurs when the code improperly searches for bits in a 32-bit variable that should be 64 bits, causing errors in bit detection. The problem has been addressed by ensuring that the size of the bits variable is correctly aligned with the architecture.

Impact

The vulnerability can cause bit corruption, leading to incorrect processing of wireless management frames on 32-bit systems.