# CVE-2026-98073: net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

> A kernel bug in network namespace cleanup causes a warning and potential crash when removing namespaces with conflicting device altnames.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 25 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-104265, BELL-CVE-2026-98073, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98073, GHSA-g33p-j5vg-7cwx, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98073

## What is CVE-2026-98073?

CVE-2026-98073 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 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:

net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

syzbot reported the warning in cfg80211_pernet_exit(). [0]

The repro does the following:

  1. create two device in root netns and non-root netns
  2. assign the same altname for the two devices
  3. remove the non-root netns

Since commit 7663d522099e ("net: check for altname conflicts
when changing netdev's netns"), cfg80211_switch_netns() and
cfg802154_switch_netns() fail if init_net has a device with the
conflicting altname.

default_device_exit_net() had the same issue and commit d09486a04f5d
("net: fix removing a namespace with conflicting altnames") fixed it.

cfg80211_pernet_exit() and cfg802154_pernet_exit() need the same fix.

Let's generalise the fix by removing conflicting altnames for dying
netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

[0]:
cfg80211_switch_netns(rdev, &init_net)
WARNING: net/wireless/core.c:1871 at cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871, CPU#1: kworker/u8:9/1160
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1160 Comm: kworker/u8:9 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Workqueue: netns cleanup_net
RIP: 0010:cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871
Code: e8 03 42 80 3c 20 00 74 08 4c 89 f7 e8 b4 ef 0e f7 4d 8b 36 49 81 fe 20 10 4a 90 74 12 e8 03 3d 9f f6 eb 85 e8 fc 3c 9f f6 90 <0f> 0b 90 eb cc e8 f1 3c 9f f6 eb 05 e8 ea 3c 9f f6 5b 41 5c 41 5e
RSP: 0018:ffffc900057a78f0 EFLAGS: 00010293
RAX: ffffffff8b287154 RBX: ffff88807ba72780 RCX: ffff8880213e8000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000ffffffef RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 00000000ffffffef R08: ffffffff9024cc67 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: fffff52000af4eb0 R11: fffffbfff204998d R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffffffff904a1080 R14: ffff888144ed0008 R15: ffff888144ed0e20
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888124de6000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005642de0a8a70 CR3: 000000007a40c000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ops_exit_list net/core/net_namespace.c:200 [inline]
 ops_undo_list+0x43d/0x8d0 net/core/net_namespace.c:253
 cleanup_net+0x572/0x810 net/core/net_namespace.c:706
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3387 [inline]
 process_scheduled_works+0xc3d/0x1630 kernel/workqueue.c:3470
 worker_thread+0xa47/0xfb0 kernel/workqueue.c:3551
 kthread+0x38b/0x480 kernel/kthread.c:436
 ret_from_fork+0x514/0xb70 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98073?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98073?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98073 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98073 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98073 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98073 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 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-2026-98073 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-2026-98073/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98073/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98073
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98073
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98073

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98073/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.