CVE-2026-98330 wifi: cfg80211: get the wiphy out of a dying network namespace
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel WiFi subsystem allows local attackers to cause a system crash when network namespaces are destroyed.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-98330?
CVE-2026-98330 is a high-severity 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: cfg80211: get the wiphy out of a dying network namespace
When a network namespace is destroyed, cfg80211_pernet_exit() moves any wiphy back to the initial namespace, and just warns if that fails. But moving an interface can fail (due to allocation failures), and then the wiphy is left behind with a garbage netns pointer:
Kernel mode fault at addr 0x30 genlmsg_multicast_netns.constprop.0+0x46/0xcf [cfg80211] nl80211_notify_wiphy+0xcd/0xe8 [cfg80211] wiphy_unregister+0x169/0x3fc [cfg80211]
Note that commit debac3a20dec ("net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().") fixed another path that could reach it without allocation failures.
Remove interfaces that cannot be moved instead of failing the switch, so that the wiphy always ends up in the initial namespace. In this case the netdev core will unregister the interfaces anyway.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98330?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98330?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-98330 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98330 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-106068, BELL-CVE-2026-98330, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98330, GHSA-hpc6-p9x9-m2fc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98330.