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Linux Kernel mac80211 Virtual Interface Left in local->interfaces List After Network Namespace Destruction, Creating a Stale Reference

Last refreshed2026-10-10

Status: UPDATED  |  Advisory ID: CVE-2026-98331

Key Details

CVECVE-2026-98331
CVSS Score / Version7.0 (High) / CVSS v3.1
Updated2026-10-07
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Proseattack vector is local; attack complexity is high; privileges required is low; user interaction is none; scope is unchanged; confidentiality impact is high; integrity impact is high; availability impact is high.
Affected productsLinux Kernel

Affected Products, Subsystems & Sectors

VendorProductAffected VersionsPatch Status
LinuxLinux Kernel
SubsystemsOT Supporting Infrastructure
SectorsAll Sectors

What to Know

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

wifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered

mac80211 only removes vifs from the local->interfaces list when

an interface is removed via ieee80211_if_remove(), before it

unregisters the netdev. However, it's possible for a netdev to

be unregistered without going through that: When the netns that

holds the wiphy is destroyed, the wiphy is supposed to move to

the init_ns, but that can run into allocation failures.

Then, mac80211 has an interface listed that doesn't exist, and

will eventually hit

BUG: failure at net/wireless/core.h:141/wiphy_to_rdev()!

...

_cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x24/0x36a [cfg80211]

cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x15/0x1d [cfg80211]

ieee80211_remove_interfaces+0x1ff/0x257 [mac80211]

ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x73/0x1d1 [mac80211]

mac80211_hwsim_del_radio+0x114/0x166 [mac80211_hwsim]

Remove the interface from the list in ->ndo_uninit if it's still

around to avoid this. (NVD)

What to Do

Monitor Linux's web page for any future patch releases.

References

SourceReference
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98331
CVEhttps://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98331