CVE-2026-98421 wifi: mac80211: require a peer station for TDLS setup confirm
A missing check in the Linux kernel Wi-Fi driver allows a remote attacker to trigger a null pointer dereference and crash the system via TDLS frames.
- 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-2026-98421?
CVE-2026-98421 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 14 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: require a peer station for TDLS setup confirm
It's nonsense for the setup confirm to go to station that doesn't even exist, and it hits a warning when building the frame:
WARN_ON_ONCE(!sta || !ap_sta)
Only accept WLAN_TDLS_SETUP_CONFIRM when the station is already there as a TDLS station. Need to copy the call to ieee80211_tdls_prep_mgmt_packet() since the existing WLAN_TDLS_DISCOVERY_REQUEST already falls through to it.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98421?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98421?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-98421 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98421 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-108170, BELL-CVE-2026-98421, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98421, GHSA-6hcf-6997-pq7q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98421.