CVE-2026-31672 wifi: rt2x00usb: fix devres lifetime
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's rt2x00usb Wi-Fi driver can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service when drivers are unbound.
- 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-2026-31672?
CVE-2026-31672 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Apr 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: rt2x00usb: fix devres lifetime
USB drivers bind to USB interfaces and any device managed resources should have their lifetime tied to the interface rather than parent USB device. This avoids issues like memory leaks when drivers are unbound without their devices being physically disconnected (e.g. on probe deferral or configuration changes).
Fix the USB anchor lifetime so that it is released on driver unbind.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31672?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-31672?
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-2026-31672 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31672 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-83708, BELL-CVE-2026-31672, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31672, GHSA-jj24-8c57-hf8x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-31672, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-31672 and 4 more.