Incomplete cleanup in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98620

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156930

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 5.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98620

CWE-ID: CWE-459

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to potentially cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to incomplete cleanup in the MediaTek Ethernet driver's mtk_probe() error path when network device registration fails. A local privileged user can potentially trigger this failure path to cause previously registered network devices to be freed without being unregistered, triggering a kernel assertion failure and a denial of service.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fdb944d4df02223c67d5e65c4c134ecb57a5668
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/245bea0c7ab278150c70366bdeb69b901327133c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/310d1ac61a4d5a2ca8356a3a48d263acf54503ce
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7254b702e556158e34b4d7c168b5d8e7da5978af
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab3bde3b3e56331b4f53a1f6cf4e5e9d1c14c1a0

• Incomplete cleanup in Linux kernel ethernet mediatek driver
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more