Improper initialization in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98936
Published: October 23, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU157573
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 2 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98936
CWE-ID: CWE-665
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to potentially cause a denial of service by preventing new wireless stations or mesh peers from connecting.
The vulnerability exists due to improper reinitialization of the station counter in the Linux kernel ath11k driver's ath11k_mac_op_start() function when restarting wireless hardware. A local user can potentially exploit stale station accounting after repeated hardware restarts to cause new station or mesh peer connections to be rejected because the driver incorrectly considers its station limit reached.
Affected software
Linux kernel
How to mitigate CVE-2026-98936
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60142eb2afda34508e640a3ff2a54c90e51525cc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e0ad05ebc72fffba2bdf2400400902d94ed7272
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a9467f7cc633b31e4c34a2c56aa095e0c3fa853
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c27779d3679c695674747744390f97a5424a0dc8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3ac51701e925e8d50479ae2fddca51a09f636e8