CVE-2026-98708 (GCVE-0-2026-98708)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-10-18 15:46 – Updated: 2026-10-30 12:38
VLAI
Title
wifi: mac80211: keep paired old chanctx alive
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: keep paired old chanctx alive An in-place replacement keeps reciprocal replace_ctx pointers between the old WILL_BE_REPLACED chanctx and the new REPLACES_OTHER chanctx. However, the early free paths only consider assigned and reserved link users when deciding whether to free the old chanctx. That lets the old chanctx be freed too early while the replacement partner still points back to it, either when the last assigned link is released or when that link successfully reassigns to another existing context. Later unreserve and switch-finalization paths can then follow a stale replace_ctx pointer. Keep a paired old chanctx alive until the replacement pair has been torn down. Apply the same check to both __ieee80211_link_release_channel() and ieee80211_link_use_reserved_reassign(). If the replacement is later abandoned, ieee80211_link_unreserve_chanctx() already tears down the pairing before freeing the old chanctx once no users remain.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 53/100 over 7018 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 026ae72fa6d0f7e04951441026be473f22911b87 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 624bf5338d8c2f55db455ce4f2543ca4a83fab03 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 0fba8fbf5ab0bffc1866e5038aaab772d31d1584 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 47864a9092fd6f6b3f312d1e5b233ecdc68b1bd8 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 21a688cbeae0e682f03e91f1e7a7eedd60d9d4f2 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 1c82d0c5d509179ba2a4edfa096f516aebf960b0 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < afd1cdd16a25c7185b812a612ab7d5f2cbd1e086 (git)
Affected: 5bcae31d9cb1ebfad3ad5a3eea04c8cdc329a04f , < 3412e9a800786d1dec4a58367db1cba275e7ef11 (git)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 3.17
Unaffected: 0 , < 3.17 (semver)
Unaffected: 5.10.273 , ≤ 5.10.* (semver)
Unaffected: 5.15.224 , ≤ 5.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.191 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6.160 , ≤ 6.6.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.113 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18.56 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2.10 , ≤ 7.2.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.3 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
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          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: keep paired old chanctx alive\n\nAn in-place replacement keeps reciprocal replace_ctx pointers between\nthe old WILL_BE_REPLACED chanctx and the new REPLACES_OTHER chanctx.\nHowever, the early free paths only consider assigned and reserved link\nusers when deciding whether to free the old chanctx.\n\nThat lets the old chanctx be freed too early while the replacement\npartner still points back to it, either when the last assigned link is\nreleased or when that link successfully reassigns to another existing\ncontext. Later unreserve and switch-finalization paths can then follow a\nstale replace_ctx pointer.\n\nKeep a paired old chanctx alive until the replacement pair has been torn\ndown. Apply the same check to both __ieee80211_link_release_channel()\nand ieee80211_link_use_reserved_reassign(). If the replacement is later\nabandoned, ieee80211_link_unreserve_chanctx() already tears down the\npairing before freeing the old chanctx once no users remain."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-30T12:38:59.169Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
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          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/026ae72fa6d0f7e04951441026be473f22911b87"
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    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98708",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-18T15:46:38.475Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.365Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-30T12:38:59.169Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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      "date": "2026-11-01",
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      "product_status:known_affected": "1",
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      "status": "final",
      "title": "wifi: mac80211: keep paired old chanctx alive",
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            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: keep paired old chanctx alive\n\nAn in-place replacement keeps reciprocal replace_ctx pointers between\nthe old WILL_BE_REPLACED chanctx and the new REPLACES_OTHER chanctx.\nHowever, the early free paths only consider assigned and reserved link\nusers when deciding whether to free the old chanctx.\n\nThat lets the old chanctx be freed too early while the replacement\npartner still points back to it, either when the last assigned link is\nreleased or when that link successfully reassigns to another existing\ncontext. Later unreserve and switch-finalization paths can then follow a\nstale replace_ctx pointer.\n\nKeep a paired old chanctx alive until the replacement pair has been torn\ndown. Apply the same check to both __ieee80211_link_release_channel()\nand ieee80211_link_use_reserved_reassign(). If the replacement is later\nabandoned, ieee80211_link_unreserve_chanctx() already tears down the\npairing before freeing the old chanctx once no users remain."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-98708",
        "lastModified": "2026-10-30T13:21:20.173",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-10-18T16:17:24.337",
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            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/afd1cdd16a25c7185b812a612ab7d5f2cbd1e086"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Received"
      }
    },
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-21T02:11:25+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98708",
      "id": "CVE-2026-98708",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-18T15:46:38.475000+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "77",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: kernel: mac80211: Denial of Service via use-after-free in channel context replacement",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98708.json",
      "version": "3"
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-22T16:35:25Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98708",
      "id": "CVE-2026-98708",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-18T23:43:22Z",
      "product_status:known_affected": "327",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "21",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-98708",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/2026/cve-2026-98708.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Vulnerability timeline

Sightings and recorded dates, grouped by day · UTC

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How durations are calculated

Following the VTEM framework (Black Hat USA 2015), time to patch starts when the vendor or a coordinator was informed, total time to patch at discovery, and disclosure to patch at public disclosure; vendor response time runs from the report to its acknowledgement. Time to exploit and time unpatched start at the earliest discovery or report, falling back to public disclosure. Unpatched time ends at the first recorded patch, or the calculation time when no patch is recorded. Exploitation to patch shows the interval between those two events; a published proof of concept is a public exploit, not exploitation.

Each result shows its source dates. A negative interval means the end event came first; when date-only inputs leave the order open, the result says so. Date-only inputs are approximate. The earliest evidence wins: KEV report dates and sightings are labelled as such. Records describing another vulnerability are listed but never calculated from, and a PoC alone does not establish exploitation. Missing patch evidence does not prove that no patch exists. Filters below change the event list only.

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