CVE-2026-98307: Linux kernel · wifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all()
Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited.
Data as of 28 Oct 2026, 01:27 UTC
Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD
Exploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 26 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gkepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
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
References
- ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-98307 (opens in a new tab)
- cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98307 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/linus/820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/57bc3cd46458eafa1c38e3044a61b7399cde7642 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/be1d5e95ec499ed5ee9704aa27dd1407ccf0d0ac (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4108dce0838ec7d38d782f76f9c007cfe2fff45 (opens in a new tab)