CVE-2026-72005: wifi: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-72005 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Improper Resource Shutdown or Release vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.7% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 17 · Related 17Timeline
- 15-08-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 19-10-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rt2x00: avoid full teardown before work setup in probe rt2x00lib_probe_dev() uses the full rt2x00lib_remove_dev() teardown for all probe failures. However, drv_data allocation and workqueue allocation can fail before intf_work, autowakeup_work and sleep_work have been initialized. Do not enter the full remove path until the probe has reached the point where those work items are set up. Return directly for drv_data allocation failure, and use a small early cleanup path for workqueue allocation failure. This issue was found by our static analysis tool and then confirmed by manual review of rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev(). The early probe exits should not call a common teardown path that assumes the later work setup has already completed. A QEMU PoC forced alloc_ordered_workqueue() to fail before the work initializers are reached. The resulting fail path entered rt2x00lib_remove_dev(), and DEBUG_OBJECTS reported invalid work drains with rt2x00lib_probe_dev() and rt2x00lib_remove_dev() in the stack.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- NVDNIST7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.16%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
6%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
Decrease -0.01 pp
From 0.18% on 06-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu169 products
- linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-198.208 | < 6.8.0-147.147 | < 7.0.0-38.38
- linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-1117.124 | < 6.8.0-1067.70 | < 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Debian1 product
- linux< 6.1.180-1 | < 6.12.100-1 | < 7.1.5-1
Linux1 product
- linux≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 8b58d1f1356df6a7d2de3f55bb665b18b04ffda0 | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 59afe6148927395cf86f9429900e029a48b1d42b | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 3c0427d719bddb33caf18ff4ffb77cb47de7eb00 | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < eb7474d0253bb2de4793e1d3ce833e8564bbe732 | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 66bd9b1a72de7c2f5141b02d796048aafaed8a49 | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 816559409e340acaa5c9d868291dab30d8c80263 | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 56994852d704535ea354a4627ca667b1b4fa0deb | ≥ 0439f5367c8d8bb2ebaca8d7329f51f3148b2fb2, < 536fb3d739d75a03cb318c0c6fe799425cfea501 | 2.6.39
3 vendors · 171 products
