{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-68409","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","state":"PUBLISHED","assignerShortName":"Linux","dateReserved":"2026-07-30T09:28:09.390Z","datePublished":"2026-08-10T12:04:29.238Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-17T05:04:59.807Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","shortName":"Linux","dateUpdated":"2026-08-17T05:04:59.807Z"},"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: defer link RX stats percpu free to RCU\n\nsta_remove_link() frees a removed MLO link's RX stats percpu buffer right\naway, but defers only the link container to RCU:\n\n\tsta_info_free_link(&alloc->info);\n\tkfree_rcu(alloc, rcu_head);\n\nThe RX fast path reads link_sta under rcu_read_lock and writes the percpu\nstats. A reader that resolved link_sta before the removal keeps the\npointer. The container stays alive from the kfree_rcu, so the read still\nworks. But the percpu block it points to is already freed. This needs\nuses_rss. That is when pcpu_rx_stats exists.\n\nThe full STA teardown frees the deflink stats only after\nsynchronize_net(). The link removal path had no such barrier. The race is\nhard to win in practice, but the free should still wait for RCU.\n\nFree the link together with its data from a single RCU callback, so the\npercpu block is reclaimed only after readers drain."}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","baseScore":8.8,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"},"scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"AV:A - The race is driven entirely over the air: the RX fast path writing the freed percpu stats is fed by received 802.11 data frames, and the link removal that frees them is triggered by AP-originated ML reconfiguration/association-response handling in ieee80211_ml_reconf_work(). A rogue AP or frame injector within radio range of the victim station suffices, so this is adjacent (Wi-Fi) rather than routable network access.\nAC:L - The attacker controls both sides of the race — it supplies the RX traffic stream that dereferences link_sta and writes pcpu_rx_stats, and it triggers the MLO link removal that frees that percpu block — and can repeat link add/remove cycles indefinitely under high packet rates spread across many CPUs by RSS. No condition outside the attacker's influence is needed beyond a mainstream RSS-capable MLO driver (iwlwifi, ath11k/ath12k).\nPR:N - No privileges or accounts on the victim system are required; the frames come from the peer AP, and a rogue AP or spoofed ML reconfiguration/data frames reach the code with no authorization on the target host.\nUI:N - Frame reception, MLO link reconfiguration and station link teardown are all handled automatically by mac80211 with no action by the device's user.\nS:U - The use-after-free corrupts kernel memory within the same kernel security authority; no VM, IOMMU or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - The freed percpu block can be reallocated to other subsystems, and the RX path continues reading fields such as last_signal, chains and counters from it, so attacker-influenced reuse of that memory can expose kernel data; per use-after-free scoring this is treated as high confidentiality impact.\nI:H - The RX fast path performs repeated writes (last_rx, last_rate, fragments, packets, chain_signal_last) into the already-freed percpu allocation, corrupting whatever percpu data is reallocated there — an attacker-timed write primitive into arbitrary recycled kernel state.\nA:H - Writing through a freed percpu pointer from the RX hot path corrupts kernel allocator state and unrelated percpu data, readily producing oopses or panics; KASAN-instrumented kernels report the use-after-free outright."}]}],"affected":[{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["net/mac80211/sta_info.c"],"versions":[{"version":"c71420db653aba30a234d1e4cf86dde376e604fa","lessThan":"2aa1789880fa5e41049b0f6a74a4fc2fa1997610","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c71420db653aba30a234d1e4cf86dde376e604fa","lessThan":"a03fceae0c65b31ce31840dac5e26684ceecb65b","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c71420db653aba30a234d1e4cf86dde376e604fa","lessThan":"aa2eb62525188269cdd402a583b9a8ed94657ff0","status":"affected","versionType":"git"}]},{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["net/mac80211/sta_info.c"],"versions":[{"version":"6.0","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","lessThan":"6.0","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.18.42","lessThanOrEqual":"6.18.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.6","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","lessThanOrEqual":"*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}]}],"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.0","versionEndExcluding":"6.18.42"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.0","versionEndExcluding":"7.1.6"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.0","versionEndExcluding":"7.2"}]}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2aa1789880fa5e41049b0f6a74a4fc2fa1997610"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a03fceae0c65b31ce31840dac5e26684ceecb65b"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa2eb62525188269cdd402a583b9a8ed94657ff0"}],"title":"wifi: mac80211: defer link RX stats percpu free to RCU","x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}