wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- —
- Privileges required
- —
- User interaction
- —
- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- —
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw() If kmemdup() fails while copying supported band structures, the error path jumps to fail_rate. This skips rate_control_deinitialize() and leaks the initialized local->rate_ctrl. Fix this by adding a fail_band label that shares the rate-control cleanup path before falling through to the remaining teardown. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1-rc7. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have a suitable mac80211 device/driver combination to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-72004
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-3wcv-wrgc-m95c
- 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d8b9b290421c3cd505fcd2f551f143f8142786a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08b71bd92317f99642b842cfc0d30200868162fc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba
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Sources
- CVE-2026-72004 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-72004 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-3wcv-wrgc-m95c · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-72004 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences