# CVE-2026-53258: wifi: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-90396, BELL-CVE-2026-53258, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53258, GHSA-pw6x-273j-mp83, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-53258, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53258, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-53258, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53258, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53258, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53258

## What is CVE-2026-53258?

CVE-2026-53258 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails

rdev->int_scan_req is leaked if cfg80211_scan() fails.  Note that it's
supposed to be released at ___cfg80211_scan_done() but this doesn't happen
as rdev->scan_req is NULL at that point, too, leading to the early return
from the freeing function.

unreferenced object 0xffff8881161d0800 (size 512):
  comm "wpa_supplicant", pid 379, jiffies 4294749765
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 81 13 16 81 88 ff ff  ................
  backtrace (crc c867fdb6):
    kmemleak_alloc+0x89/0x90
    __kmalloc_noprof+0x2fd/0x410
    cfg80211_scan+0x133/0x730
    nl80211_trigger_scan+0xc69/0x1cc0
    genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x204/0x2f0
    genl_rcv_msg+0x431/0x6b0
    netlink_rcv_skb+0x143/0x3f0
    genl_rcv+0x27/0x40
    netlink_unicast+0x4f6/0x820
    netlink_sendmsg+0x797/0xce0
    __sock_sendmsg+0xc4/0x160
    ____sys_sendmsg+0x5e4/0x890
    ___sys_sendmsg+0xf8/0x180
    __sys_sendmsg+0x136/0x1e0
    __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x76/0xc0
    x64_sys_call+0x13f0/0x17d0

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org).

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53258?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53258?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53258 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53258 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-53258 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53258 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jun 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53258 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53258/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53258/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53258
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53258
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53258

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53258/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.