Local system crash via autodisconnect work race
Published Aug 10, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026
A race condition in Linux cfg80211 allows local users to crash the system by releasing an owning netlink socket during wireless-device teardown. The nl80211_netlink_notify() path can queue wdev->disconnect_wk after NETDEV_GOING_DOWN has cancelled it, while device unregistration does not drain work queued by an RCU reader. Low-privileged local access and an owned wireless connection are required; the publicly established consequence is a system crash.
Summary
What happened
A race condition in Linux cfg80211 allows local users to crash the system by releasing an owning netlink socket during wireless-device teardown. The nl80211_netlink_notify() path can queue wdev->disconnect_wk after NETDEV_GOING_DOWN has cancelled it, while device unregistration does not drain work queued by an RCU reader. Low-privileged local access and an owned wireless connection are required; the publicly established consequence is a system crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-68404
- Published
- Aug 10, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 10, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-367, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 10, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 10, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.11
- Affected versionversion=bd2522b168847106c1885f0319a2833bdf88bf9a <0c2ed186bbe14304415476d6707b747dddcd8583
- Affected versionversion=bd2522b168847106c1885f0319a2833bdf88bf9a <6d6123fef5a4af175cc6b6b12a03dd0f3c240b79
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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