CVE-2026-98182: vulnerability in Linux
wifi: mac80211: refuse to make a monitor active when it has no queue
Published
3Vexday Risk Score
No sign of exploitation. No public exploitation artifact known so far.
ssvc Trackepss 0.2%
exploitation probability
0.2%top 94% of all CVEs
observed exploitation
nono source reports it
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: refuse to make a monitor active when it has no queue
A monitor interface only gets a TXQ if it's created active, and one can't
be added later. Setting the flag on a down interface is still allowed, so
the driver is handed a monitor with no queue. ath9k dereferences it:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000066
RIP: 0010:ath_tx_node_init+0x49/0x170 [ath9k]
ath9k_add_interface+0x10c/0x140 [ath9k]
drv_add_interface+0x54/0x250 [mac80211]
ieee80211_do_open+0x32f/0x800 [mac80211]
Reached with CAP_NET_ADMIN by "iw dev X set monitor active" followed by
"ip link set X up". RTNL is held, so netlink operations block behind it.
Refuse the flag when there is no queue to give.
Affected products
Linux · LinuxRelated CVEs — Linux
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