7.8

CVE-2026-23444: wifi: mac80211: always free skb on ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() failure

Modified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23444DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23444CGA-2ww2-c9jg-qqh9
Published 03-04-2026Last modified 19-10-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-23444 is a high (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.14% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3.4% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.14%
0%100%
Low · +0.01 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 37 · Related 37
SUSE-SU-2026:22043-1SUSE-SU-2026:22048-1SUSE-SU-2026:22076-1SUSE-SU-2026:22087-1SUSE-SU-2026:22108-1SUSE-SU-2026:22137-1

Timeline

  1. 03-04-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 19-10-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: always free skb on ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() failure ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() has three error paths, but only two of them free the skb. The first error path (ieee80211_tx_prepare() returning TX_DROP) does not free it, while invoke_tx_handlers() failure and the fragmentation check both do. Add kfree_skb() to the first error path so all three are consistent, and remove the now-redundant frees in callers (ath9k, mt76, mac80211_hwsim) to avoid double-free. Document the skb ownership guarantee in the function's kdoc.

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 5 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.14%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

3%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Increase +0.01 pp

From 0.13% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Ubuntu157 products
  • linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-186.196 | < 6.8.0-136.136
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-1112.119 | < 6.8.0-1061.64
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Chainguard5 products
  • linux-aws-6.12All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-azure-6.12All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-gcp-6.12All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-qemu-6.12All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-vmware-6.12All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 905ef207d5ed99ca64adfe39fba9ac46e434327a | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 5ef8ca1c164786da24169af155c1ca1ff1353cf8 | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 9a779d1f480e83720b5384adf165604e7ee226bd | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < f77b51bcee7be2bb686b5f7a2d4a1921e4bdb9f4 | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 3b4d27acafaeab478fd24f79ad6e593a892828b9 | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 06e769dddcbeb3baf2ce346273b53dd61fdbecf4 | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < 50f1b690b4868923fbd242298def2fb88662f108 | ≥ 06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced, < d5ad6ab61cbd89afdb60881f6274f74328af3ee9 | 3.13
  • linux_kernel≥ 3.13.1, < 6.18.20 | ≥ 6.19, < 6.19.10 | 3.13 | 7.0:rc1 | 7.0:rc2 | 7.0:rc3 | 7.0:rc4 | 7.0:rc5 | 7.0:rc6 | 7.0:rc7
Debian1 product
  • linux< 6.1.176-1 | < 6.12.85-1 | < 6.19.10-1

4 vendors · 165 products

References

42 links
Show all 42 references