CVE-2026-53258
MediumCVSS 5.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Wi-Fi subsystem has been identified during 6 GHz scanning. The rdev->int_scan_req object is not freed when cfg80211_scan() fails because rdev->scan_req remains NULL, preventing proper memory release in ___cfg80211_scan_done().
Risk Assessment
This memory leak can gradually deplete system resources, potentially leading to system instability or crashes, especially under frequent Wi-Fi scanning operations.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix for the memory leak in cfg80211. Monitor your distribution for the patch and apply it as soon as possible.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: fix leak if split 6 GHz scanning fails rdev->int_scan_req is leaked if cfg80211_scan() fails. Note that it's supposed to be released at ___cfg80211_scan_done() but this doesn't happen as rdev->scan_req is NULL at that point, too, leading to the early return from the freeing function. unreferenced object 0xffff8881161d0800 (size 512): comm "wpa_supplicant", pid 379, jiffies 4294749765 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 81 13 16 81 88 ff ff ................ backtrace (crc c867fdb6): kmemleak_alloc+0x89/0x90 __kmalloc_noprof+0x2fd/0x410 cfg80211_scan+0x133/0x730 nl80211_trigger_scan+0xc69/0x1cc0 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x204/0x2f0 genl_rcv_msg+0x431/0x6b0 netlink_rcv_skb+0x143/0x3f0 genl_rcv+0x27/0x40 netlink_unicast+0x4f6/0x820 netlink_sendmsg+0x797/0xce0 __sock_sendmsg+0xc4/0x160 ____sys_sendmsg+0x5e4/0x890 ___sys_sendmsg+0xf8/0x180 __sys_sendmsg+0x136/0x1e0 __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x76/0xc0 x64_sys_call+0x13f0/0x17d0 Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org).