CVE-2026-74368 wifi: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_wifi7_dp_rx_h_verify_tkip_mic()
A memory leak in the ath12k Wi-Fi driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering invalid header validation during TKIP MIC verification.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-74368?
CVE-2026-74368 is a memory corruption 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: ath12k: fix memory leak in ath12k_wifi7_dp_rx_h_verify_tkip_mic()
In ath12k_wifi7_dp_rx_h_verify_tkip_mic(), the call to ath12k_dp_rx_check_nwifi_hdr_len_valid() may return false when the NWIFI header length is invalid, causing the function to abort early with -EINVAL.
When this happens, the error propagates to ath12k_wifi7_dp_rx_h_defrag(), which clears first_frag by setting it to NULL. As a result, the corresponding MSDU is no longer referenced by the defragmentation path and is never freed.
This leads to a memory leak for the affected MSDU on this error path. Proper cleanup is required to ensure the MSDU is released when header validation fails during TKIP MIC verification.
Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00302-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-1.115823.3
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74368?
How do I fix CVE-2026-74368?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-74368 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74368 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-74368, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74368, GHSA-jx2p-wmx4-9hvq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74368.