In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: always free...

CVE-2026-23444 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

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

wifi: mac80211: always free skb on ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() failure

ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() has three error paths, but only two of them
free the skb. The first error path (ieee80211_tx_prepare() returning
TX_DROP) does not free it, while invoke_tx_handlers() failure and the
fragmentation check both do.

Add kfree_skb() to the first error path so all three are consistent,
and remove the now-redundant frees in callers (ath9k, mt76,
mac80211_hwsim) to avoid double-free.

Document the skb ownership guarantee in the function's kdoc.

Basic information

Type
unreviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
—
Source code
Not specified
Published (advisory)
2026-04-03 18:31:21 UTC
Updated
2026-06-01 18:31:23 UTC
NVD published
2026-04-03 16:16:28 UTC

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.01% 3.65%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.5 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-84pr-vgrv-386j ↗
CVE CVE-2026-23444 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence