Local privilege escalation via cfg80211 use-after-free
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 18, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux cfg80211 allows local users to read or modify kernel memory or crash the system through P2P teardown. The P2P and NAN stop helpers remove the mac80211 interface before aborting a pending PMSR request, so cfg80211 frees memory while the driver retains and later uses the stale request. A local user can reach the P2P path with CAP_NET_ADMIN in a user namespace; later driver processing can disclose memory, corrupt kernel state, redirect control flow, or cause a kernel oops.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux cfg80211 allows local users to read or modify kernel memory or crash the system through P2P teardown. The P2P and NAN stop helpers remove the mac80211 interface before aborting a pending PMSR request, so cfg80211 frees memory while the driver retains and later uses the stale request. A local user can reach the P2P path with CAP_NET_ADMIN in a user namespace; later driver processing can disclose memory, corrupt kernel state, redirect control flow, or cause a kernel oops.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90343
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 18, 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=5.0
- Affected versionversion=9bb7e0f24e7e7d00daa1219b14539e2e602649b2 <6c5fc504d0d6934132637aa3db4b9b58148eaa78
- Affected versionversion=9bb7e0f24e7e7d00daa1219b14539e2e602649b2 <7a22cbc6c6bdd3c3811b4ce13875685c520f94de
- Affected versionversion=9bb7e0f24e7e7d00daa1219b14539e2e602649b2 <db3439ad11ac5e52decdefe784c98b21c3757848
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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