Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52 mac80211 ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure use after free

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.22+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52 and classified as very critical. The impacted element is the function ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure of the component mac80211. Such manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-97492. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52 and classified as very critical. Affected by this issue is the function ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure of the component mac80211. 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. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: don't call ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure when not needed In case reconfiguration of NAN fails, we call ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure, that marks all interfaces as not in the driver. Then, at the error path of the reconfig, cfg80211_shutdown_all_interfaces is called to destroy all the interfaces. If we have any other interface but the NAN one, for example a BSS station, then when its state (links, stations) will be removed, we won't tell the driver about this, because we will think that the interfaces are not in the driver, and then drivers might remain with dangling pointers to objects like stations and links (at least for iwlwifi this is the case). ieee80211_handle_reconfig_failure is meant to be called after we cleaned up the state in the driver, there is no reason to call it for NAN reconfiguration failure. Fix the code to just warn in such a case, as we do in other error paths in reconfig where it is too complicated to rewind.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-97492 since 09/24/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/24/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.111 or 6.18.53 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 60b96e44489d6775fe9cd8df619c29e0dc285c49/6fb64029457cdcd77be546daf4c7c7cf04891857/7a8a3ff2815501f78f494808355ddf37e08647d0 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.110
• 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
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.111/6.18.53
Patch: 60b96e44489d6775fe9cd8df619c29e0dc285c49/6fb64029457cdcd77be546daf4c7c7cf04891857/7a8a3ff2815501f78f494808355ddf37e08647d0

Timelineinfo

09/24/2026 Advisory disclosed
09/24/2026 +0 days CVE reserved
09/24/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/24/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-97492 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-97492
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-409658

Entryinfo

Created: 09/24/2026 19:59
Changes: 09/24/2026 19:59 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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