# CVE-2026-72024: mac802154: remove interfaces with RCU list deletion

> A race condition in the Linux kernel mac802154 subsystem allows a use-after-free during interface teardown, potentially causing a system crash.

- **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-2026-72024, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72024, GHSA-25w8-qg97-7fjr, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72024

## What is CVE-2026-72024?

CVE-2026-72024 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:

mac802154: remove interfaces with RCU list deletion

Queue wake, stop, and disable paths walk local->interfaces under RCU.
The bulk hardware teardown path removes entries with list_del(), so an
asynchronous transmit completion can follow a poisoned list node in
ieee802154_wake_queue().

Use list_del_rcu() as in the single-interface removal path. The following
unregister_netdevice() waits for in-flight RCU readers before freeing the
netdevice, so no separate grace-period wait is needed.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72024?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72024?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72024 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72024 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72024 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72024 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-2026-72024 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-2026-72024/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72024/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72024
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72024
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72024

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72024/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.