# CVE-2026-98331: wifi: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel mac80211 subsystem allows local attackers to cause a system crash by triggering specific network namespace cleanup failures.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 6 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-106347, BELL-CVE-2026-98331, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98331, GHSA-wm55-5w39-6wj2, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98331

## What is CVE-2026-98331?

CVE-2026-98331 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: mac80211: unlist vifs when their netdev is unregistered

mac80211 only removes vifs from the local->interfaces list when
an interface is removed via ieee80211_if_remove(), before it
unregisters the netdev. However, it's possible for a netdev to
be unregistered without going through that: When the netns that
holds the wiphy is destroyed, the wiphy is supposed to move to
the init_ns, but that can run into allocation failures.

Then, mac80211 has an interface listed that doesn't exist, and
will eventually hit

  BUG: failure at net/wireless/core.h:141/wiphy_to_rdev()!
  ...
  _cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x24/0x36a [cfg80211]
  cfg80211_unregister_wdev+0x15/0x1d [cfg80211]
  ieee80211_remove_interfaces+0x1ff/0x257 [mac80211]
  ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x73/0x1d1 [mac80211]
  mac80211_hwsim_del_radio+0x114/0x166 [mac80211_hwsim]

Remove the interface from the list in ->ndo_uninit if it's still
around to avoid this.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98331?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98331?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98331 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98331 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98331 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98331 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98331 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-2026-98331/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98331/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98331
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98331
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98331

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98331/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.