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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-72004: Linux kernel · wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw()

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · fixed in f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 6 Nov 2026, 17:19 UTC

Severity
Unrated

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CISA SSVC
Exploitation
No evidence of active exploitation and no public proof of concept
Automatable
Attackers cannot reliably automate steps 1–4 of the kill chain
Technical impact
Limited control over the software or limited information exposure

CISA SSVC assessment, 2026-11-06.

Patch
Available – fixed in f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf, bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0, a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037 +5

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 15 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 6 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf
Fixed in
  • f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0
Fixed in
  • bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037
Fixed in
  • a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616
Fixed in
  • a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < 95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba
Fixed in
  • 95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba
LinuxLinuxAffected
  • ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df, < 45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7
Fixed in
  • 45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw() If kmemdup() fails while copying supported band structures, the error path jumps to fail_rate. This skips rate_control_deinitialize() and leaks the initialized local->rate_ctrl. Fix this by adding a fail_band label that shares the rate-control cleanup path before falling through to the remaining teardown. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1-rc7. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have a suitable mac80211 device/driver combination to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.

References

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