Kernel memory corruption via post-free BA state read
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 7.1 mac80211 allows attackers to read freed BA-session state during local teardown. ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_cb removes tid_tx through kfree_rcu(), drops sta->lock, and then reads tid_tx->ndp without an RCU read-side critical section. The path requires a locally requested teardown such as an idle timeout, PTK rekey, suspend, or hardware reconfiguration; peer DELBA frames do not reach it, and the demonstrated result is a KASAN-detected one-byte stale read.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 7.1 mac80211 allows attackers to read freed BA-session state during local teardown. ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_cb removes tid_tx through kfree_rcu(), drops sta->lock, and then reads tid_tx->ndp without an RCU read-side critical section. The path requires a locally requested teardown such as an idle timeout, PTK rekey, suspend, or hardware reconfiguration; peer DELBA frames do not reach it, and the demonstrated result is a KASAN-detected one-byte stale read.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-74489
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-825
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 15, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=7.1
- Affected versionversion=98acd4c1d9f7dc9c426e840c16e81b57315ff84b <09fc36eec7841cdf732f4db39855e0c73bd075cc
- Affected versionversion=98acd4c1d9f7dc9c426e840c16e81b57315ff84b <2f067f5a450ea07efd249142a11d940a068fe29c
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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