# CVE-2026-80940: wifi: rtw88: pci: fix resource leak on failed NAPI setup

> A resource leak in the rtw88 PCI driver during failed NAPI setup can lead to memory exhaustion and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-80940, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80940, GHSA-82xc-pjrp-m39r, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80940

## What is CVE-2026-80940?

CVE-2026-80940 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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: rtw88: pci: fix resource leak on failed NAPI setup

rtw_pci_probe() allocates PCI resources through
rtw_pci_setup_resource() before it sets up NAPI. If
rtw_pci_napi_init() fails, the error path jumps straight to
err_pci_declaim and skips rtw_pci_destroy(), leaving the PCI
resources allocated by rtw_pci_setup_resource() behind.

Add a dedicated cleanup label for the NAPI setup failure path so probe
destroys the PCI resources.

The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are
developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing current
mainline kernels. The tool is still under development and is not yet
publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still
present in v7.1-rc7.

An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have a
suitable rtw88 PCI board to test with, no runtime testing was able to be
performed.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80940?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80940?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80940 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80940 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80940 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80940 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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-2026-80940 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-2026-80940/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80940/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80940
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80940
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80940

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80940/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.