CVE-2026-98823 PUBLISHED

wifi: cfg80211: preserve hidden-group beacon IE ownership

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 18.10.2026 Updated: 18.10.2026

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

wifi: cfg80211: preserve hidden-group beacon IE ownership

A hidden-group probe-response entry borrows its beacon IEs from the group's beacon entry. cfg80211_update_assoc_bss_entry() can pass such an entry to cfg80211_update_known_bss() when merging scan entries after a channel switch.

Copying the borrowed beacon_ies into the associated entry gives the same allocation two owners. Releasing the group's beacon entry can then leave the associated entry pointing to freed IEs, which are freed again when that entry is released.

Skip beacon IE replacement when the source entry belongs to a hidden group. Preserve probe-response processing, the subsequent metadata updates, and the existing rejection path for conflicting hidden beacon updates.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 0afd425b1b64251f19b5d8d8b49bf56fefbc643f to 49b66110a08e4f926f6393e938f226de2750a08b (excl.)
  • affected from 0afd425b1b64251f19b5d8d8b49bf56fefbc643f to dd7973a4130b0862be38d7e08cc0e874b3d99967 (excl.)
  • affected from 0afd425b1b64251f19b5d8d8b49bf56fefbc643f to 5f27581c176f84b52ec0ab9be7b500c10667ef60 (excl.)
  • affected from 0afd425b1b64251f19b5d8d8b49bf56fefbc643f to cc45f313d85533d647ce619326302aad6f797c14 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 5.4 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 5.4 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.113 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.56 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.10 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc6 to * (incl.)

References