CVE-2026-72005CWE-404

CVE-2026-72005

High · published August 15, 2026

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
5.3
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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

wifi: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe

rt2x00lib_probe_dev() uses the full rt2x00lib_remove_dev() teardown for

all probe failures. However, drv_data allocation and workqueue allocation

can fail before intf_work, autowakeup_work and sleep_work have been

initialized.

Do not enter the full remove path until the probe has reached the point

where those work items are set up. Return directly for drv_data allocation

failure, and use a small early cleanup path for workqueue allocation

failure.

This issue was found by our static analysis tool and then confirmed by

manual review of rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev(). The

early probe exits should not call a common teardown path that assumes the

later work setup has already completed.

A QEMU PoC forced alloc_ordered_workqueue() to fail before the work

initializers are reached. The resulting fail path entered

rt2x00lib_remove_dev(), and DEBUG_OBJECTS reported invalid work drains with

rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev() in the stack.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.8 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00164 · 5.3th percentile
Weakness
CWE-404 · Improper Resource Shutdown or Release
Published
2026-08-15T10:20Z
References (8)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 15 AUG 05:51Z
    wifi: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe
    cvelistv5