Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5 mac80211 ieee80211_chandef_vht_oper uninitialized pointer

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.
7.2	$0-$5k	1.82

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This impacts the function ieee80211_chandef_vht_oper of the component mac80211. Performing a manipulation results in uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-98702. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This affects the function ieee80211_chandef_vht_oper of the component mac80211. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: reject invalid 320 MHz CSA bandwidth The HT/VHT channel definition validator can receive a 320 MHz bandwidth indication from a received CSA frame on a non-6 GHz link. It warns for this unsupported width but continues with an uninitialized vht_operation.chan_width, which is then read by ieee80211_chandef_vht_oper(). With panic_on_warn enabled, this lets a received frame panic the kernel. Reject the channel definition before entering the VHT operation conversion. This preserves the existing CSA fallback while avoiding both the warning and the uninitialized read.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98702 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 or 7.3-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch cf0ddacce173890407ed3fa50c8ea9b3c0cc0e16/1892e71aa2e5ee667d87c6e49e3661f5e290303b/79b3ce0d881cd6e5d4d3496b19f5cc5e7089a56c/56e236759f0a8dc910c2ae7cd3c161f298ee5794 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.112
• 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
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4
• 7.3-rc5

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: 7.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.2

VulDB Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Temp Score: 7.2
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: Uninitialized pointer
CWE: CWE-824 / CWE-908
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 6.12.113/6.18.56/7.2.10/7.3-rc6
Patch: cf0ddacce173890407ed3fa50c8ea9b3c0cc0e16/1892e71aa2e5ee667d87c6e49e3661f5e290303b/79b3ce0d881cd6e5d4d3496b19f5cc5e7089a56c/56e236759f0a8dc910c2ae7cd3c161f298ee5794

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98702 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98702
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-421947

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 19:26
Changes: 10/18/2026 19:26 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion

Interested in the pricing of exploits?

See the underground prices here!