Linux Kernel up to 6.12.87/6.18.29/7.0.6/7.1-rc2 wifi ieee80211_dfs_cac_cancel use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.87/6.18.29/7.0.6/7.1-rc2. This issue affects the function ieee80211_dfs_cac_cancel of the component wifi. The manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-46166. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.87/6.18.29/7.0.6/7.1-rc2. This issue affects the function ieee80211_dfs_cac_cancel of the component wifi. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: use safe list iteration in radar detect work The call to ieee80211_dfs_cac_cancel can cause the iterated chanctx to be freed and removed from the list. Guard against this to avoid a slab-use-after-free error.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-46166 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/21/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 321829 (RHEL 10 : kernel (RHSA-2026:27288)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.88, 6.18.30, 7.0.7 or 7.1-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 887ece6c23b49d02a6678e7a8d5ad213d75883ce/7577a4b8a10fab45a6ee2045ea038a5adadbb585/120149fb3ebcf674832ca3cafd32bedcdb686dde/ac8eb3e18f41e2cc8492cc1d358bcb786c850270 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (321829) and EUVD (EUVD-2026-32793). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
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• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
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• 6.12.46
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• 6.12.61
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• 6.12.66
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• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.12.75
• 6.12.76
• 6.12.77
• 6.12.78
• 6.12.79
• 6.12.80
• 6.12.81
• 6.12.82
• 6.12.83
• 6.12.84
• 6.12.85
• 6.12.86
• 6.12.87
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3
• 7.0.4
• 7.0.5
• 7.0.6
• 7.1-rc1
• 7.1-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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