CVE-2026-98346 wifi: cfg80211: don't get the radio mask for netdev-less wdevs
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel WiFi subsystem allows local attackers to cause a system crash by triggering a specific code path with a netdev-less wireless device.
- 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-2026-98346?
CVE-2026-98346 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: don't get the radio mask for netdev-less wdevs
cfg80211_calculate_bi_data() calls rdev_get_radio_mask() with wdev->netdev, which can be NULL and then crashes in mac80211.
To avoid that, invert the order of checks since wdev->netdev is always valid for beaconing interfaces.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98346?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98346?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-98346 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98346 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-98346, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98346, GHSA-36pm-6m6w-jv8x, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98346.