CVE-2026-23073 wifi: rsi: Fix memory corruption due to not set vif driver data size
A memory corruption flaw in the Linux kernel RSI WiFi driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash by bringing a wireless interface up and down.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23073?
CVE-2026-23073 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: rsi: Fix memory corruption due to not set vif driver data size
The struct ieee80211_vif contains trailing space for vif driver data, when struct ieee80211_vif is allocated, the total memory size that is allocated is sizeof(struct ieee80211_vif) + size of vif driver data. The size of vif driver data is set by each WiFi driver as needed.
The RSI911x driver does not set vif driver data size, no trailing space for vif driver data is therefore allocated past struct ieee80211_vif . The RSI911x driver does however use the vif driver data to store its vif driver data structure "struct vif_priv". An access to vif->drv_priv leads to access out of struct ieee80211_vif bounds and corruption of some memory.
In case of the failure observed locally, rsi_mac80211_add_interface() would write struct vif_priv *vif_info = (struct vif_priv *)vif->drv_priv; vif_info->vap_id = vap_idx. This write corrupts struct fq_tin member struct list_head new_flows . The flow = list_first_entry(head, struct fq_flow, flowchain); in fq_tin_reset() then reports non-NULL bogus address, which when accessed causes a crash.
The trigger is very simple, boot the machine with init=/bin/sh , mount devtmpfs, sysfs, procfs, and then do "ip link set wlan0 up", "sleep 1", "ip link set wlan0 down" and the crash occurs.
Fix this by setting the correct size of vif driver data, which is the size of "struct vif_priv", so that memory is allocated and the driver can store its driver data in it, instead of corrupting memory around it.
Weakness: CWE-787
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23073?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23073?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-23073 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23073 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-77109, BELL-CVE-2026-23073, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23073, GHSA-cw47-5xmh-qvq4, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23073, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23073 and 1 more.