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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-68414

| EUVDEUVD-2026-55600 HIGH
2026-08-10 Linux GHSA-h288-98gp-jxq9
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
7.5 HIGH
AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
7.0 HIGH

Interface teardown (the race-completing leg) requires local privilege to initiate, warranting AV:L/PR:L; AC:H reflects the narrow race window; full C/I/A from kernel UAF.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
6.4 HIGH
AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Red Hat
5.5 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Adjacent
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Aug 14, 2026 - 01:35 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Aug 13, 2026 - 23:37 NVD
7.5 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 10, 2026 - 14:18 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 10, 2026 - 12:04 cve.org
HIGH 7.5
CVE Published
Aug 10, 2026 - 12:04 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: cfg80211: cancel sched scan results work on unregister

cfg80211_sched_scan_results() can queue rdev->sched_scan_res_wk from a driver result notification while a scheduled scan request is present. The work callback recovers the containing cfg80211_registered_device and then locks the wiphy and walks the scheduled-scan request list.

wiphy_unregister() already makes the wiphy unreachable and drains rdev work items before cfg80211_dev_free() can release the object, but it does not drain sched_scan_res_wk. A queued or running result work item can therefore cross the unregister/free boundary and access freed rdev state.

The buggy scenario involves two paths, with each column showing the order within that path:

scheduled-scan result path: unregister/free path:

  1. cfg80211_sched_scan_results() 1. interface teardown stops and

queues rdev->sched_scan_res_wk. removes the scheduled scan request.

  1. cfg80211_wq starts the work 2. wiphy_unregister() drains other

item and recovers rdev. rdev work items.

  1. The worker locks rdev->wiphy 3. cfg80211_dev_free() destroys and

and walks rdev state. frees rdev.

Cancel sched_scan_res_wk in wiphy_unregister() alongside the other rdev work items. cancel_work_sync() removes a pending result notification and waits for an already running callback, so cfg80211_dev_free() cannot free rdev while this work item is still active.

Validation reproduced this kernel report: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in cfg80211_sched_scan_results_wk+0x4a6/0x530 Workqueue: cfg80211 cfg80211_sched_scan_results_wk [cfg80211] Read of size 8 Call trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x66/0xa0 print_report+0xce/0x630 cfg80211_sched_scan_results_wk+0x4a6/0x530 srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 __virt_addr_valid+0x224/0x430 kasan_report+0xac/0xe0 lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0xea/0x1a0 process_one_work+0x8d0/0x18f0 (kernel/workqueue.c:3212) lock_is_held_type+0x8f/0x100 worker_thread+0x5ad/0xfd0 __kthread_parkme+0xc6/0x200 kthread+0x31e/0x410 trace_hardirqs_on+0x1a/0x170 ret_from_fork+0x576/0x810 __switch_to+0x57e/0xe20 __switch_to_asm+0x33/0x70 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

AnalysisAI

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel cfg80211 WiFi subsystem exposes systems with wireless adapters to potential kernel memory corruption via a race condition between scheduled scan result processing and WiFi device unregistration. All Linux kernel versions from approximately 3.0 (commit 807f8a8c) through stable releases prior to 6.6.148, 6.12.101, 6.18.42, and 7.1.6 are affected wherever cfg80211-based WiFi drivers are in use. No public exploit has been identified at time of analysis, and EPSS at 0.16% (6th percentile) reflects low current exploitation probability despite the kernel-level C:H/I:H/A:H impact potential.

Technical ContextAI

cfg80211 is the Linux kernel's 802.11 wireless configuration framework, used by virtually all modern Linux WiFi drivers via the nl80211/mac80211 stack. The flaw resides in wiphy_unregister(), which tears down a wireless physical device (wiphy) and drains most associated rdev work items, but omits cancel_work_sync() for sched_scan_res_wk - the dedicated workqueue item handling background scan result notifications. When a driver calls cfg80211_sched_scan_results() to report scan results, the work item is queued to cfg80211_wq. If wiphy_unregister() completes and cfg80211_dev_free() releases the rdev object before the queued work item runs, the worker callback recovers and dereferences the now-freed rdev pointer. CWE is listed as N/A but this maps squarely to CWE-416 (Use After Free) combined with CWE-362 (Race Condition). The KASAN report in the CVE description confirms the UAF at cfg80211_sched_scan_results_wk+0x4a6/0x530, with the read occurring in kernel context via the cfg80211 workqueue. The fix is a minimal one-line addition of cancel_work_sync() in wiphy_unregister() to ensure the work item completes before rdev is freed.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to Linux kernel 6.6.148, 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6, or 7.2-rc4 (or later in respective stable branches), as confirmed by EUVD-2026-55600 and upstream stable commits at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3368457b4871ae8f0f88d19c9a3e6270e850ede6 and the associated branch-specific commits. Major distributions (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE) are expected to backport this fix to their supported kernel versions; consult distribution security channels alongside upstream stable commits. For systems where immediate kernel updates are operationally blocked, disabling scheduled background WiFi scanning via network manager policy or iw/wpa_supplicant configuration (setting scan_interval to 0 or disabling background scanning in wpa_supplicant.conf) prevents cfg80211_sched_scan_results() from queuing the work item, eliminating the race trigger - note this may degrade WiFi roaming performance and AP discovery on mobile systems. Completely unloading the affected WiFi driver module on non-critical systems is a more aggressive compensating control that fully removes the vulnerable code path.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Not-Affected

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CVE-2026-68414 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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