# CVE-2026-72005: wifi: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe

> A flaw in the Linux kernel rt2x00 WiFi driver causes a crash when probe fails early, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72005, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72005, GHSA-pvvm-r88x-762c, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72005

## What is CVE-2026-72005?

CVE-2026-72005 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe

rt2x00lib_probe_dev() uses the full rt2x00lib_remove_dev() teardown for
all probe failures. However, drv_data allocation and workqueue allocation
can fail before intf_work, autowakeup_work and sleep_work have been
initialized.

Do not enter the full remove path until the probe has reached the point
where those work items are set up. Return directly for drv_data allocation
failure, and use a small early cleanup path for workqueue allocation
failure.

This issue was found by our static analysis tool and then confirmed by
manual review of rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev(). The
early probe exits should not call a common teardown path that assumes the
later work setup has already completed.

A QEMU PoC forced alloc_ordered_workqueue() to fail before the work
initializers are reached. The resulting fail path entered
rt2x00lib_remove_dev(), and DEBUG_OBJECTS reported invalid work drains with
rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev() in the stack.

Weakness: CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72005?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72005?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72005 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72005 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72005 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72005 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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-2026-72005 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72005/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72005/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72005
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72005
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72005

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72005/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.