CVE-2026-98182 wifi: mac80211: refuse to make a monitor active when it has no queue
A local attacker with CAP_NET_ADMIN can cause a kernel crash by activating a monitor interface without a queue, leading to a null pointer dereference.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-98182?
CVE-2026-98182 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Oct 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: mac80211: refuse to make a monitor active when it has no queue
A monitor interface only gets a TXQ if it's created active, and one can't be added later. Setting the flag on a down interface is still allowed, so the driver is handed a monitor with no queue. ath9k dereferences it:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000066 RIP: 0010:ath_tx_node_init+0x49/0x170 [ath9k] ath9k_add_interface+0x10c/0x140 [ath9k] drv_add_interface+0x54/0x250 [mac80211] ieee80211_do_open+0x32f/0x800 [mac80211]
Reached with CAP_NET_ADMIN by "iw dev X set monitor active" followed by "ip link set X up". RTNL is held, so netlink operations block behind it.
Refuse the flag when there is no queue to give.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98182?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98182?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-98182 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98182 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-106326, BELL-CVE-2026-98182, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98182, GHSA-29gw-9f65-5xh9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98182.