CVE-2026-98333 wifi: mac80211: reset the LED state when ifup fails
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's mac80211 subsystem allows local attackers to cause a denial of service via a timer race condition during interface failure.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-98333?
CVE-2026-98333 is an use after free 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: reset the LED state when ifup fails
When the first interface comes up, the radio LED is turned on. This can start the TPT trigger timer, which continues running.
But if bringing up the interface fails then the timer keeps running and won't be stopped by anything, eventually it can be freed:
ODEBUG: free active (active state 0) object: ffff888127e12130 object type: timer_list hint: tpt_trig_timer+0x0/0x300 net/mac80211/led.c:145 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5923 at lib/debugobjects.c:612 debug_print_object+0x1a2/0x2b0 debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x4b7/0x600 lib/debugobjects.c:1129 kfree+0x436/0x670 mm/slub.c:6818 ieee80211_led_exit+0x162/0x1c0 net/mac80211/led.c:210 ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x27e/0x3a0 net/mac80211/main.c:1706 rt2x00lib_remove_dev+0x55b/0x670
Undo the LED state in the error path.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98333?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98333?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-98333 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98333 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-106098, BELL-CVE-2026-98333, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98333, GHSA-57gv-8xf9-89mj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98333.