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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-74407

| EUVDEUVD-2026-59554 HIGH
2026-08-15 Linux GHSA-r6wh-wch9-fxjr
8.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
8.8 HIGH
AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
4.7 MEDIUM

Race condition requires local reboot control concurrent with firmware crash; impact is kernel panic only - no confidentiality or integrity loss supported by description.

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

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector
Adjacent
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Aug 17, 2026 - 11:10 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
8.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 07:19 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:59 cve.org
HIGH 8.8
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:59 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

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

wifi: ath11k: cancel SSR work items during PCI shutdown

A reboot can crash the kernel if it overlaps with WLAN firmware crash recovery (SSR). The crash is a NULL pointer dereference in the MHI teardown path while freeing DMA-backed MHI contexts.

Simplified trace: dma_free_attrs mhi_deinit_dev_ctxt [mhi] ath11k_pci_power_down [ath11k_pci] ath11k_pci_shutdown [ath11k_pci] device_shutdown kernel_restart

On the host side, SSR is driven by the MHI RDDM callback, which queues reset_work to perform device recovery. reset_work power-cycles the device by calling ath11k_hif_power_down() followed by ath11k_hif_power_up(). The power-down phase deinitializes MHI and frees DMA resources.

Shutdown/reboot runs fully asynchronously with this RDDM-driven SSR recovery flow. As a result, the shutdown path (ath11k_pci_shutdown() -> ath11k_pci_power_down()) can race with the SSR recovery sequence.

Fix this by canceling SSR-related work items during PCI shutdown, marking the device as unregistering, and serializing the RDDM callback path that checks and queues reset_work. This ensures that no new SSR recovery work can be queued once teardown has started, and that any in-flight recovery work is fully synchronized before device power-down, preventing MHI teardown and DMA resource freeing from running more than once.

Note: This issue only affects PCI/MHI-based devices. AHB-based ath11k devices do not queue reset_work in normal SSR flows.

Tested-on: WCN6855 hw2.1 PCI WLAN.HSP.1.1-04866.5-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_IOE-1

AnalysisAI

Kernel panic via NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's ath11k PCI WiFi driver affects systems running kernel versions from 5.19 through pre-7.1.5/7.2-rc1 with Qualcomm PCI-attached WiFi chipsets such as WCN6855. The race condition occurs when a system reboot overlaps with WLAN firmware crash recovery (Subsystem Reset, SSR), causing the MHI teardown path and SSR recovery path to simultaneously attempt to deinitialize MHI and free DMA-backed contexts, resulting in a double-free scenario and kernel crash. …

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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata

Access
Adjacent attacker or hardware fault triggers WLAN firmware crash
Delivery
MHI RDDM callback fires, queues SSR reset_work
Exploit
Concurrent system reboot invokes ath11k_pci_shutdown path
Execution
Shutdown and SSR paths race to deinitialize MHI DMA contexts
Persist
NULL pointer dereference in mhi_deinit_dev_ctxt
Impact
Kernel panic and system crash

Vulnerability AssessmentAI

Exploitation Exploitation requires a Linux system equipped with a Qualcomm PCI-attached WiFi chipset using the ath11k_pci driver (confirmed affected hardware: WCN6855 hw2.1 PCI), running kernel versions from 5.19 up to but not including 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc1. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment.
Risk Assessment The vendor-assigned CVSS score of 8.8 (AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/C:H/I:H/A:H) is likely materially overstated for this vulnerability. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in.
Exploit Scenario A system experiences a spontaneous WLAN firmware crash on its Qualcomm ath11k PCI WiFi chipset, triggering the MHI RDDM callback and queuing SSR reset_work for device recovery. Concurrently, an administrator initiates a system reboot (or a scheduled reboot fires), and the kernel's ath11k_pci_shutdown path begins tearing down MHI and freeing DMA contexts before the SSR reset_work has completed, producing a NULL pointer dereference in mhi_deinit_dev_ctxt() and a full kernel panic. …
Remediation The primary fix is upgrading to Linux kernel 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc1 (or any later release), which include the synchronization fixes at commits 53dd29e8aeb2a1b5f079178551836b85fc6b53df and 8c79aac429b583301f387374ff37c59be671df87, available from the Linux stable tree at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/53dd29e8aeb2a1b5f079178551836b85fc6b53df and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c79aac429b583301f387374ff37c59be671df87. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report.

Recommended ActionAI

Within 24 hours: Identify all Linux systems running kernel versions 5.19 through 7.1.4 with ath11k Qualcomm WiFi drivers and categorize by criticality. …

Sign in for detailed remediation steps and compensating controls.

Threat intelligence, references, and detailed analysis are available after sign-in.

Vendor StatusVendor

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CVE-2026-74407 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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