CVE-2026-90353Hinoki check available

Local privilege escalation via ext-PHY use-after-free

Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 18, 2026

Use-after-free in the Linux mt7915 Wi-Fi driver allows local users to corrupt kernel memory after an ext-PHY registration failure. The free_phy2 unwind calls ieee80211_free_hw() while the external PHY remains registered with mac80211, leaving freed wiphy, thermal, and workqueue objects reachable. Reachability requires DBDC hardware, a one-shot allocation failure during device probing, and later nl80211 or thermal access; the result ranges from a kernel panic to control-flow hijacking.

CVSS severity7.0
High
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Oct 19, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
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Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the Linux mt7915 Wi-Fi driver allows local users to corrupt kernel memory after an ext-PHY registration failure. The free_phy2 unwind calls ieee80211_free_hw() while the external PHY remains registered with mac80211, leaving freed wiphy, thermal, and workqueue objects reachable. Reachability requires DBDC hardware, a one-shot allocation failure during device probing, and later nl80211 or thermal access; the result ranges from a kernel panic to control-flow hijacking.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-90353
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

  1. Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.19
  2. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <15b960014f24dce5388d4a2e7274e6490cb3c421
  3. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <34058ad122f7524e33df8e38caba4b1d803b025a
  4. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <648f5f03ff50d4bd719106ace0cdf1d8be02cbdd
  5. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <a7fd3bae8e11a7c00df6a5021d9ef248ae9f9bf5
  6. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <aa55bec92ba7747dd08feff409f8074c5e052e71
  7. Affected versionversion=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <ad706fcf6255494613b94418e7243d98065dbeaf

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.19; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <15b960014f24dce5388d4a2e7274e6490cb3c421; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <34058ad122f7524e33df8e38caba4b1d803b025a; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <648f5f03ff50d4bd719106ace0cdf1d8be02cbdd; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <a7fd3bae8e11a7c00df6a5021d9ef248ae9f9bf5; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <aa55bec92ba7747dd08feff409f8074c5e052e71; version=7b8e1ae886e45aed9274048f2836a70b75ecfa40 <ad706fcf6255494613b94418e7243d98065dbeaf

Published CVSS scores

7.0Linux CNACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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.

Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.

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No observations available

Sep 22, 2026Sep 28, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 28, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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