# CVE-2026-72004: wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw()

Status: published. Published: 2026-08-15. Updated: 2026-11-06.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw()

If kmemdup() fails while copying supported band structures, the error
path jumps to fail_rate. This skips rate_control_deinitialize() and
leaks the initialized local->rate_ctrl.

Fix this by adding a fail_band label that shares the rate-control cleanup
path before falling through to the remaining teardown.

The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are
developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing
v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly
available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in
v7.1-rc7.

An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have a
suitable mac80211 device/driver combination to test with, no runtime
testing was able to be performed.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Linux / Linux: ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < 3d8b9b290421c3cd505fcd2f551f143f8142786a (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < 08b71bd92317f99642b842cfc0d30200868162fc (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616 (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < 45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7 (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0 (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037 (affected, git); ≥ 09b4a4faf9d037990ac4f8110dd944b27b42d5df; < 95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba (affected, git). Source: CNA: Linux
- Linux / Linux: 4.20 (affected); ≥ 0; < 4.20 (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.10.261; ≤ 5.10.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 5.15.212; ≤ 5.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.1.178; ≤ 6.1.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.6.145; ≤ 6.6.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.12.97; ≤ 6.12.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.18.40; ≤ 6.18.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 7.1.5; ≤ 7.1.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 7.2; ≤ * (unaffected, original_commit_for_fix). Source: CNA: Linux

## Severity and prioritization

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.22% as of 2026-11-06; percentile 12.54%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: Not reported

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d8b9b290421c3cd505fcd2f551f143f8142786a (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08b71bd92317f99642b842cfc0d30200868162fc (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08b71bd92317f99642b842cfc0d30200868162fc (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d8b9b290421c3cd505fcd2f551f143f8142786a (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)

## Provenance

- CNA: Linux: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72004; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72004; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-72004; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated Not reported

Revision: b4c8c314252e161b2de698e2b454d6247f9c6aefc0d3cbb2058d2b26a47f2474

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-72004

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