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CVE-2026-97474

Linux: wifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
7.4High
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.12%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063Fixed versionCVE List
Published24 Sep 2026Updated 28 Sep 2026CVE List

What fixes it

  • 1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063LinuxCVE List

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: iwlwifi: mld: purge async notifications upon nic error

This fixes a kernel panic in reconfig failure:

  1. we have a BSS connection
  2. we have a NAN connection
  3. FW error occurs
  4. reconfig restores the BSS connection
  5. however, restoring the NAN connection fails due to a FW error.
  6. erroneously, ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure is called and marks all

interfaces as not-in-driver (will be fixed in a different patch).

  1. mac80211 frees the links of the BSS connection but doesn't tell the

driver about that, as it thinks that this vif is not in the driver.

  1. in ieee80211_stop_device, *ALL* wiphy works are getting flushed

(erroneously?)

  1. Therefore, async_handlers_wk is being executed, processing the

statistics notification that was received after we restored the BSS connection.

  1. the notification handler dereferences fw_id_to_bss_conf[id], which is

now a dangling pointer, as mac80211 already freed this link in (7).

  1. On the first access to one of the links fields, we panic.

While this can and should be fixed by removing the call to ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure in (6), it is also not a good idea to carry and maybe handle notifications from a dead FW.

We do purge the notifications when we stop the FW, but in reconfig failure we stop the FW too late, after the notifications are processed. In addition, async_handlers_wk can always be scheduled before the reconfig work.

Purge the notifications immediately when transport notifies about a nic error.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 6

  • Linuxaffected: d1e879ec600f9b3bdd253167533959facfefb17b before 1b3b7b521041d55459f8457db8921e9778482063CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: d1e879ec600f9b3bdd253167533959facfefb17b before a40ad60a47f7c904b75a9ff83b39edebf3961c85CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 6.15CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: all versions before 6.15CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.18.53 through 6.18.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2CVE List

References 2