High · published August 5, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: tear down new links on vif update error path
When ieee80211_vif_update_links() adds new links it allocates a link
container for each and calls ieee80211_link_init() (which registers the
per-link debugfs files with file->private_data pointing into the container)
and ieee80211_link_setup(). If the subsequent drv_change_vif_links() fails,
the error path restores the old pointers and jumps to 'free', which frees
the new containers but never removes their debugfs entries or stops the
links. The debugfs files survive with file->private_data dangling at the
freed container, so a later open()+read() (e.g. link-1/txpower)
dereferences freed memory in ieee80211_if_read_link(), a use-after-free.
The removal path already dismantles links correctly via
ieee80211_tear_down_links(), which removes each link's keys and debugfs
entries and calls ieee80211_link_stop(); the add path on the error branch
does not. Commit be1ba9ed221f ("wifi: mac80211: avoid weird state in error
path") hardened this same error path for the link-removal case
(new_links == 0) but left the newly-added links' teardown unaddressed.
drv_change_vif_links() can fail at runtime on MLO drivers (internal
allocation / queue / firmware command failures).
Remove the new links' debugfs entries and stop them before freeing.
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ieee80211_if_read_link (net/mac80211/debugfs_netdev.c:127)
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888011290000 by task exploit/145
Call Trace:
...
ieee80211_if_read_link (net/mac80211/debugfs_netdev.c:127)
short_proxy_read (fs/debugfs/file.c:373)
vfs_read (fs/read_write.c:572)
ksys_read (fs/read_write.c:716)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121)
...
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc000000000a
RIP: 0010:ieee80211_if_read_link (net/mac80211/debugfs_netdev.c:127)
Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception