CVE-2026-98426 wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path
A bug in the Linux kernel mwifiex driver causes IRQ leaks during MSI-X initialization failures, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.
- 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-2026-98426?
CVE-2026-98426 is a denial of service 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: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path
mwifiex_pcie_request_irq() registers each MSI-X vector with a per-index dev_id (&card->msix_ctx[i]). On a request_irq() failure the cleanup loop "for (j = 0; j < i; j++)" frees msix_entries[j].vector but passes the failed index's &card->msix_ctx[i] as the dev_id. free_irq() matches on (irq, dev_id), so it fails to find the action registered with &card->msix_ctx[j]: the already-requested IRQ j is not freed (leaked) and free_irq() warns about freeing a non-existent IRQ. Use &card->msix_ctx[j].
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98426?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98426?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-98426 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98426 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-108131, BELL-CVE-2026-98426, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98426, GHSA-558r-qp8j-rr6r, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98426.