CVE-2026-53102 wifi: mt76: Fix memory leak after mt76_connac_mcu_alloc_sta_req()

Medium 5.5 Published 24 Jun 2026 Updated 21 Oct 2026

A memory leak in the Linux kernel mt76 WiFi driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering error paths that fail to free allocated memory.

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-2026-53102?

CVE-2026-53102 is a medium-severity denial of service 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: Fix memory leak after mt76_connac_mcu_alloc_sta_req()

mt76_connac_mcu_alloc_sta_req() allocates an skb which is expected to be freed eventually by mt76_mcu_skb_send_msg(). However, currently if an intermediate function fails before sending, the allocated skb is leaked.

Specifically, mt76_connac_mcu_sta_wed_update() and mt76_connac_mcu_sta_key_tlv() may fail, leading to an immediate memory leak in the error path.

Fix this by explicitly freeing the skb in these error paths. Commit 7c0f63fe37a5 ("wifi: mt76: mt7996: fix memory leak on mt7996_mcu_sta_key_tlv error") made a similar change.

Compile tested only. Issue found using a prototype static analysis tool and code review.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53102?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-53102?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2026-53102 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53102 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as AZL-90459, BELL-CVE-2026-53102, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53102, GHSA-998c-5h7q-5rrg, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53102, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-53102 and 2 more.