CVE-2026-80949 wifi: brcmfmac: Fix memory leak in brcmf_sdio_read_control()
A memory leak in the brcmfmac Wi-Fi driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service by exhausting kernel memory.
- 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-2026-80949?
CVE-2026-80949 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: brcmfmac: Fix memory leak in brcmf_sdio_read_control()
The memory allocated for buf is not freed in some of the error paths in brcmf_sdio_read_control(). Fix that by adding vfree() calls.
[arend: rework as suggested by Johannes]
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80949?
How do I fix CVE-2026-80949?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-80949 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80949 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-100217, BELL-CVE-2026-80949, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80949, GHSA-5hvg-pfp7-3397, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80949.