CVE-2026-98331 (GCVE-0-2026-98331)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-10-06 08:46
Modified
2026-10-19 09:17
Severity ?
7.0 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered mac80211 only removes vifs from the local->interfaces list when an interface is removed via ieee80211_if_remove(), before it unregisters the netdev. However, it's possible for a netdev to be unregistered without going through that: When the netns that holds the wiphy is destroyed, the wiphy is supposed to move to the init_ns, but that can run into allocation failures. Then, mac80211 has an interface listed that doesn't exist, and will eventually hit BUG: failure at net/wireless/core.h:141/wiphy_to_rdev()! ... _cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x24/0x36a [cfg80211] cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x15/0x1d [cfg80211] ieee80211_remove_interfaces+0x1ff/0x257 [mac80211] ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x73/0x1d1 [mac80211] mac80211_hwsim_del_radio+0x114/0x166 [mac80211_hwsim] Remove the interface from the list in ->ndo_uninit if it's still around to avoid this.
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
Version: 463d018323851a608eef52a9427b0585005c647f
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/mac80211/iface.c"
          ],
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          "programFiles": [
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          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
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              "version": "0",
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              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.112",
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            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.54",
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            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.8",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.1.189",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "2.6.32",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
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                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.6.158",
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                  "vulnerable": true
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              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
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      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered\n\nmac80211 only removes vifs from the local-\u003einterfaces list when\nan interface is removed via ieee80211_if_remove(), before it\nunregisters the netdev. However, it\u0027s possible for a netdev to\nbe unregistered without going through that: When the netns that\nholds the wiphy is destroyed, the wiphy is supposed to move to\nthe init_ns, but that can run into allocation failures.\n\nThen, mac80211 has an interface listed that doesn\u0027t exist, and\nwill eventually hit\n\n  BUG: failure at net/wireless/core.h:141/wiphy_to_rdev()!\n  ...\n  _cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x24/0x36a [cfg80211]\n  cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x15/0x1d [cfg80211]\n  ieee80211_remove_interfaces+0x1ff/0x257 [mac80211]\n  ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x73/0x1d1 [mac80211]\n  mac80211_hwsim_del_radio+0x114/0x166 [mac80211_hwsim]\n\nRemove the interface from the list in -\u003endo_uninit if it\u0027s still\naround to avoid this."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The trigger is local: tearing down a netns that holds a mac80211 wiphy runs cfg80211_pernet_exit()-\u003ecfg80211_switch_netns(). When dev_change_net_namespace() fails there, default_device_exit_batch() unregisters the netdev while ieee80211_uninit() leaves its sdata on local-\u003einterfaces. No WiFi frame supplies the failing state.\nAC:H - It needs a wiphy already moved into an attacker-controlled netns (an admin step), plus a failed move back. The attacker can force the failure: an altname on the wlan netdev that clashes with an init_net name makes __dev_change_net_namespace() return -EEXIST, because cfg80211 doesn\u0027t strip altnames. The rare alternative is an allocation failure.\nPR:L - With a phy delegated to a container, root in that user-namespace-owned netns, which is unprivileged on the host, can add the altname via RTM_NEWLINKPROP and destroy the netns. Moving a phy out of init_net yourself needs init-ns CAP_NET_ADMIN, and hwsim radios made in a user netns are deleted by hwsim_exit_net() before cfg80211 runs.\nUI:N - The container root adds the altname and exits the namespace on their own. No other user has to do anything.\nS:U - This is memory corruption in the host kernel\u0027s mac80211 interface list. Exploiting it is ordinary kernel privilege escalation within the same kernel authority; no hypervisor or IOMMU boundary is involved.\nC:H - The netdev is freed via needs_free_netdev, but its sdata stays on local-\u003einterfaces. Every received frame then makes __ieee80211_rx_handle_packet() read the freed sdata through list_for_each_entry_rcu(), which gives a use-after-free read of an object an attacker can reallocate.\nI:H - Later removal of a neighbouring interface (list_del_rcu) and ieee80211_remove_interfaces() write into and dereference the stale sdata. That is a use-after-free write that heap reallocation could turn into memory corruption.\nA:H - The dangling entry crashes the kernel: the commit shows a BUG in wiphy_to_rdev() reached from ieee80211_remove_interfaces() during ieee80211_unregister_hw(), and frame RX can touch freed memory."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:17:41.508Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a22c02863439993095acd0c3db97fa53cd515f4f"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/20a56e96a6f7b4dfbd13f8732fd2673409fc7ba0"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b735ad1a9aca6080192c1316cf2706e5e1318762"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d45bf731ec7085d2cc2c5d179d3b3b6c743d4fb1"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/821bab0456dfca12acef6df702c8f2477d313227"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eee2efd82867b623982ac51925b5a1812a74c50d"
        }
      ],
      "title": "wifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98331",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-06T08:46:23.481Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.341Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:17:41.508Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


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