CVE-2026-98307
Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.
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
View original CVE JSON
{
"id": "CVE-2026-98307",
"sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"published": "2026-10-06T09:18:21.950",
"lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:18:32.737",
"vulnStatus": "Received",
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all()\n\nWhen mac80211 removes a sta, it calls .sta_state() which in turn calls\nath11k_mac_station_remove(). In that function we clean up both peers &\narsta related resources.\n\nBut when the firmware crashes, ath11k calls ieee80211_restart_hw(), which\nassumes that all driver related resources are cleaned up beforehand. This\ncleanup is supposedly done by ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() but does not\nin fact free arsta->rx_stats / tx_stats.\n\nExtract the arsta cleanup from ath11k_mac_station_remove() into a\nnew ath11k_mac_station_cleanup() and call it from both there and\nath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all().\n\nThis should handle kmemleaks reports like:\n\tunreferenced object 0xffffff801ae66400 (size 1024):\n\t comm \"hostapd\", pid 1306, jiffies 4295011565\n\t hex dump (first 32 bytes):\n\t 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................\n\t 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................\n\t backtrace (crc d61c08ec):\n\t kmemleak_alloc+0x3c/0x50\n\t __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x2b0/0x3e0\n\t ath11k_mac_op_sta_state+0x1dc/0xb10\n\t drv_sta_state+0xac/0x6f8\n\t sta_info_insert_rcu+0x314/0x5e0\n\t sta_info_insert+0x14/0x38\n\t ieee80211_add_station+0x10c/0x1a0\n\t nl80211_new_station+0x3e8/0x680\n\t genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xc0/0x120\n\t genl_rcv_msg+0x1b4/0x258\n\t netlink_rcv_skb+0x4c/0x108\n\t genl_rcv+0x38/0x60\n\t netlink_unicast+0x190/0x278\n\t netlink_sendmsg+0x15c/0x370\n\t ____sys_sendmsg+0x120/0x290\n\t ___sys_sendmsg+0x70/0xa0\n\nTested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.9.0.1-01977-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"affectedData": [
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/mac.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d",
"lessThan": "c4108dce0838ec7d38d782f76f9c007cfe2fff45",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d",
"lessThan": "57bc3cd46458eafa1c38e3044a61b7399cde7642",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d",
"lessThan": "be1d5e95ec499ed5ee9704aa27dd1407ccf0d0ac",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d",
"lessThan": "820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
}
]
},
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/mac.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "5.6",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "5.6",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "6.12.112",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "6.18.54",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.2.8",
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.3",
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
"status": "unaffected"
}
]
}
]
}
],
"metrics": {},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57bc3cd46458eafa1c38e3044a61b7399cde7642",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be1d5e95ec499ed5ee9704aa27dd1407ccf0d0ac",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4108dce0838ec7d38d782f76f9c007cfe2fff45",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}
]
}