# CVE-2026-98325: wifi: mac80211: set up the TX info early to fix failure paths

> A memory handling flaw in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi subsystem can lead to resource leaks or crashes during transmission failures, requiring a kernel patch.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-105993, BELL-CVE-2026-98325, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98325, GHSA-3437-mcr8-jcvh, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98325

## What is CVE-2026-98325?

CVE-2026-98325 is a memory corruption 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: set up the TX info early to fix failure paths

The previous commit 2c51457d930f ("wifi: mac80211: free ack status
frame on TX header build failure") cleaned up the leak, but still
left the code a bit messy and the failed SKB didn't get reported
to userspace.

Fix this up by initialising skb->cb[] earlier, which allows using
ieee80211_free_txskb() and therefore reports it for the failure
in ieee80211_build_hdr(), and unifies the ieee80211_skb_resize()
failure path with it.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98325?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98325?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98325 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98325 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98325 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98325 is a memory corruption 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98325 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-2026-98325/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98325/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98325
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98325
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98325

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98325/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.