CVE-2026-72490

Local denial of service via reversed null guard

Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026

NULL pointer dereference in the rtl8723bs Wi-Fi driver in Linux 7.1 allows local users to crash the system during AES frame decryption. rtw_aes_decrypt retrieves station information from a frame's transmitter address but reverses the null guard, rejecting a valid pointer and continuing with an invalid one. Reachability requires low-privileged local access and the rtl8723bs driver handling an AES-encrypted frame; the bounded impact is a kernel crash.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL pointer dereference in the rtl8723bs Wi-Fi driver in Linux 7.1 allows local users to crash the system during AES frame decryption. rtw_aes_decrypt retrieves station information from a frame's transmitter address but reverses the null guard, rejecting a valid pointer and continuing with an invalid one. Reachability requires low-privileged local access and the rtl8723bs driver handling an AES-encrypted frame; the bounded impact is a kernel crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-72490
Published
Aug 15, 2026
Updated
Aug 15, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 15, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=7.1
  2. Affected versionversion=e23ad15700284b63ab5d8ae1370e93f7c1723863 <9a3f9b3c47d8f071b0eb9e63906ac0448058278d
  3. Affected versionversion=e23ad15700284b63ab5d8ae1370e93f7c1723863 <fde2296f87b72ccd72460ce13ad56e8652b321d4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=7.1; version=e23ad15700284b63ab5d8ae1370e93f7c1723863 <9a3f9b3c47d8f071b0eb9e63906ac0448058278d; version=e23ad15700284b63ab5d8ae1370e93f7c1723863 <fde2296f87b72ccd72460ce13ad56e8652b321d4

Published CVSS scores

5.5Red HatCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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