Bug 2546512 (CVE-2026-98331)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98331 kernel: wifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mac80211 wireless networking subsystem. When a network namespace hosting a wireless device is destroyed, memory allocation failures during device migration can leave unregistered network interfaces in internal tracking lists. A local user can exploit this issue to trigger a kernel crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-06 09:36:58 UTC

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.

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-10-10 09:16:20 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98331.mbox