CVE-2026-98341

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's cfg80211 wireless subsystem. When a wireless network interface is shut down while an active scan is running, the kernel prematurely frees memory associated with the scan request while the driver is still accessing it. A local user could exploit this race condition to trigger a use-after-free (UAF) condition, potentially leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) via a system crash or privilege escalation.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because exploitation requires local user access, precise timing to win a race condition during network interface teardown, and the presence of wireless networking hardware. Typical enterprise server and container environments do not employ wireless interfaces, significantly limiting exposure across standard production deployments. While successful exploitation could result in a kernel crash or privilege escalation, the prerequisite of active wireless scanning under local interface management bounds the blast radius.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.