# CVE-2026-90346: wifi: nl80211: clean up color-change beacon data on errors

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem allows local attackers to cause denial of service by triggering error paths in beacon parsing.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 17 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-102671, BELL-CVE-2026-90346, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90346, GHSA-w736-9wgf-6j7c, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90346

## What is CVE-2026-90346?

CVE-2026-90346 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 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: nl80211: clean up color-change beacon data on errors

nl80211_color_change() calls nl80211_parse_beacon() for the beacon_next
template, which can allocate params.beacon_next.mbssid_ies and .rnr_ies.
A parsing failure returned directly instead of using the out: cleanup,
leaking any allocations completed before the error.

Allocate the nested attribute table before parsing beacon_next. Its
allocation failure can then return before beacon data exists, while a
later parsing failure uses out: to release the parsed data.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90346?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-90346?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-90346 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90346 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90346 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-90346 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 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-2026-90346 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-2026-90346/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90346/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90346
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90346
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90346

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90346/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.