CVE-2026-53097 wifi: mt76: mt7996: fix use-after-free bugs in mt7996_mac_dump_work()
A use-after-free vulnerability in the mt7996 Wi-Fi driver allows attackers to cause denial of service or execute code via a race condition during device detachment.
- 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-2026-53097?
CVE-2026-53097 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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: mt76: mt7996: fix use-after-free bugs in mt7996_mac_dump_work()
When the mt7996 pci chip is detaching, the mt7996_crash_data is released in mt7996_coredump_unregister(). However, the work item dump_work may still be running or pending, leading to UAF bugs when the already freed crash_data is dereferenced again in mt7996_mac_dump_work().
The race condition can occur as follows:
CPU 0 (removal path) | CPU 1 (workqueue) mt7996_pci_remove() | mt7996_sys_recovery_set() mt7996_unregister_device() | mt7996_reset() mt7996_coredump_unregister() | queue_work() vfree(dev->coredump.crash_data) | mt7996_mac_dump_work() | crash_data-> // UAF
Fix this by ensuring dump_work is properly canceled before the crash_data is deallocated. Add cancel_work_sync() in mt7996_unregister_device() to synchronize with any pending or executing dump work.
Weakness: CWE-416
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53097?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-53097?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-53097 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53097 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-53097, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53097, GHSA-27w7-x5wj-42p8, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53097, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53097.