CVE-2026-98307
UnknownSummary
A memory leak was found in the Linux kernel's ath11k Wi-Fi driver. When the firmware crashes, ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() failed to free arsta->rx_stats and tx_stats resources, causing kernel memory leaks (kmemleak). The fix extracts arsta cleanup into a new ath11k_mac_station_cleanup() function and calls it from both locations.
Risk Assessment
The kernel memory leak gradually consumes system memory, which over time can degrade performance and, in extreme cases, lead to memory exhaustion and system instability. The issue affects devices with ath11k-based Wi-Fi cards such as QCN9074.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix for CVE-2026-98307. If updating is not possible, consider limiting exposure of devices with ath11k cards or monitoring kernel memory usage.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel ath11k
See all- CVE-2026-90407High
In the Linux kernel, the ath11k Wi-Fi driver does not enforce a minimum length for the WMI_TAG_PDEV_CSA_SWITCH_COUNT_STATUS_EVENT structure, and the firmware-supplied num_vdevs field is used as a loop bound without validation. This can cause an out-of-bounds read. The fix adds a TLV policy entry and a helper to bound num_vdevs.
- CVE-2022-49130Medium
In the Linux kernel, the ath11k driver for Qualcomm Wi-Fi cards has a vulnerability causing a system crash during 'rmmod ath11k_pci' when amss.bin is missing. The issue is due to using mhi_async_power_up(), which does not check errors, instead of the safer mhi_sync_power_up().
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() When mac80211 removes a sta, it calls .sta_state() which in turn calls ath11k_mac_station_remove(). In that function we clean up both peers & arsta related resources. But when the firmware crashes, ath11k calls ieee80211_restart_hw(), which assumes that all driver related resources are cleaned up beforehand. This cleanup is supposedly done by ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() but does not in fact free arsta->rx_stats / tx_stats. Extract the arsta cleanup from ath11k_mac_station_remove() into a new ath11k_mac_station_cleanup() and call it from both there and ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all(). This should handle kmemleaks reports like: unreferenced object 0xffffff801ae66400 (size 1024): comm "hostapd", pid 1306, jiffies 4295011565 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 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc d61c08ec): kmemleak_alloc+0x3c/0x50 __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x2b0/0x3e0 ath11k_mac_op_sta_state+0x1dc/0xb10 drv_sta_state+0xac/0x6f8 sta_info_insert_rcu+0x314/0x5e0 sta_info_insert+0x14/0x38 ieee80211_add_station+0x10c/0x1a0 nl80211_new_station+0x3e8/0x680 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xc0/0x120 genl_rcv_msg+0x1b4/0x258 netlink_rcv_skb+0x4c/0x108 genl_rcv+0x38/0x60 netlink_unicast+0x190/0x278 netlink_sendmsg+0x15c/0x370 ____sys_sendmsg+0x120/0x290 ___sys_sendmsg+0x70/0xa0 Tested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.9.0.1-01977-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS