Linux Kernel up to 7.2.7/7.3-rc3 Led State net/mac80211/led.c ieee80211_led_exit use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as very critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.7/7.3-rc3. Impacted is the function ieee80211_led_exit of the file net/mac80211/led.c of the component Led State. Such manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-98333. The attack may be launched remotely. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.7/7.3-rc3. Affected by this issue is the function ieee80211_led_exit of the file net/mac80211/led.c of the component Led State. 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: reset the LED state when ifup fails When the first interface comes up, the radio LED is turned on. This can start the TPT trigger timer, which continues running. But if bringing up the interface fails then the timer keeps running and won't be stopped by anything, eventually it can be freed: ODEBUG: free active (active state 0) object: ffff888127e12130 object type: timer_list hint: tpt_trig_timer+0x0/0x300 net/mac80211/led.c:145 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5923 at lib/debugobjects.c:612 debug_print_object+0x1a2/0x2b0 debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x4b7/0x600 lib/debugobjects.c:1129 kfree+0x436/0x670 mm/slub.c:6818 ieee80211_led_exit+0x162/0x1c0 net/mac80211/led.c:210 ieee80211_unregister_hw+0x27e/0x3a0 net/mac80211/main.c:1706 rt2x00lib_remove_dev+0x55b/0x670 Undo the LED state in the error path.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98333 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. 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 10/06/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.8 or 7.3-rc4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch de6f9561db572df86d65c05545eb2397313bb8a5/78183e8331958fda11cd2b6850bb424a9747c4b2 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

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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