# CVE-2026-98338: wifi: cfg80211: ibss: ref BSS entry for joined event

> A race condition in the Linux kernel WiFi subsystem can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service when joining an IBSS network.

- **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-106257, BELL-CVE-2026-98338, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98338, GHSA-jgrq-7mcg-mjwv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98338

## What is CVE-2026-98338?

CVE-2026-98338 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: cfg80211: ibss: ref BSS entry for joined event

When the IBSS is joined, we only record the BSSID/channel in the event
and look up the BSS entry when processing it. However, that's racy,
e.g. a new scan with NL80211_SCAN_FLAG_FLUSH can remove it, causing a
warning in the event work:

  !bss
  WARNING: net/wireless/ibss.c:37 at __cfg80211_ibss_joined+0x3d3/0x440
  Workqueue: cfg80211 cfg80211_event_work
   cfg80211_process_wdev_events+0x39f/0x5b0 net/wireless/util.c:1144
   cfg80211_process_rdev_events+0xa1/0x110 net/wireless/util.c:1179
   cfg80211_event_work+0x2f/0x40 net/wireless/core.c:393

Do the lookup early (the driver is expected to only join an IBSS that
has a BSS entry) and keep a reference to it.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98338?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98338?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98338 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98338 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98338 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98338 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-2026-98338/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98338/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98338
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98338
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98338

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98338/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.