CVE-2026-80948 wifi: iwlwifi: dvm: fix memory leak in iwl_op_mode_dvm_start()
A memory leak in the iwlwifi driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering specific error paths during initialization.
- 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-2026-80948?
CVE-2026-80948 is a memory corruption 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: iwlwifi: dvm: fix memory leak in iwl_op_mode_dvm_start()
In iwl_op_mode_dvm_start(), jumping to out_free_eeprom currently bypasses the out_free_eeprom_blob label. Consequently, error paths triggered after successfully parsing the EEPROM free priv->nvm_data but leak priv->eeprom_blob.
Fix this memory leak by reordering the error handling labels so that out_free_eeprom falls through to out_free_eeprom_blob.
The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1-rc6.
An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have supported Intel DVM wireless hardware and firmware to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80948?
How do I fix CVE-2026-80948?
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-2026-80948 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80948 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-100657, BELL-CVE-2026-80948, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80948, GHSA-mrmg-jqr4-hg37, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80948.