* [CVE-2026-98330][MODERATE REGULAR] wifi: cfg80211: get the wiphy out of a dying network namespace [ Upstream
@ 2026-10-10 9:10 21% AL-KERNEL
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From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-10-10 9:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-98330
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: wifi: cfg80211: get the wiphy out of a dying network namespace [ Upstream
Commit: caa02072b2986d4b0e7a824de05782ef7b03a0ba
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=caa02072b2986d4b0e7a824de05782ef7b03a0ba
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98330
Analysis date: Sat, 10 Oct 2026 05:10:20 -0400
ActionableScore: 3
ActionableScore lower bound: unknown
Actionable bucket: Borderline / manual review recommended
Manual review required: YES
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98330 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98330
The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.
The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.
Published priority for this report: MODERATE REGULAR
Manual review required: YES
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-98330 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98330 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE | AEGIS IMPACT MODERATE_KPANIC AEGIS_AS=1 LEGACY=MODERATE RESULT=DIFF (independent Legacy and Aegis differ; FINAL: MODERATE, Aegis: MODERATE_KPANIC) Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H';*CWE-416;*CWE-672;CWE-703;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7';DESCR 'cfg80211 can leave a wiphy associated with a network namespace that is being destroyed when moving one of its wireless interfaces back to init_net fails. The resulting stale netns pointer can later be passed from nl80211_notify_wiphy to genlmsg_multicast_netns during wiphy unregister and cause a kernel mode fault. For the CVSS the PR:L reflects a local user who can create user and network namespaces and obtain CAP_NET_ADMIN inside the created namespace. AC:H reflects the need to reach the namespace teardown path while an interface move or related allocation fails. The issue is not directly network reachable because receiving wireless or network traffic alone does not provide the required namespace lifecycle control. The demonstrated impact is a local denial of service through a kernel crash. The stale pointer is also a potential UAF primitive if the released net object is reused, so confidentiality and integrity impact cannot be excluded without additional manual analysis.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Borderline / manual review recommended (with actual score 3) MAYBE REMOTE DANGER INIT HARDWARE SYZBOT DECREASED_TO_MODERATEREG_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN4 - - checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=3
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_B
RealUAF=YES
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
RequiresHostUID0=UNKNOWN
AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO
ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE
B4PendingReview=NO
B4PendingConfirmed=NO
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 3
* Conservative score: 3
* Raw paranoid score: 3
* Paranoid score: 3
* No floor or cap was applied. REAL UAF FLOOR 4 does not apply because the demonstrated stale use is confined to namespace-exit and unregister cleanup and immediately produces a kernel fault without established post-reuse processing.
* Final recommended bucket: **Borderline / manual review recommended**::
2. Signal breakdown
Positive signals:
* +2 Real UAF or lifetime violation. A failed namespace move leaves `wiphy_net()` referencing a network namespace whose lifetime is ending. That stale pointer is later consumed by `nl80211_notify_wiphy()` and `genlmsg_multicast_netns()`.
* +1 Reliable kernel crash or strong DoS. The commit provides a concrete kernel-mode fault stack through `wiphy_unregister()`.
Non-awarded signals:
* No remote-reachability points. Network traffic alone does not initiate the required namespace teardown and failed interface migration.
* No local-unprivileged point. The complete sequence for placing and retaining the relevant wiphy in an attacker-controlled namespace is not established.
* No structured stale-object leverage. The demonstrated stale use is a cleanup-time helper call ending in an invalid pointer fault. No meaningful post-reuse field processing is shown.
* No attacker-influenced lifetime point. Attacker control over wiphy placement, namespace teardown, allocation failure, and later unregister as one complete sequence is unresolved.
* No strong or weak LPE point. Controlled reclaim, attacker-shaped replacement data, callback influence, directed read/write, and refcount takeover are not demonstrated.
* No repeated-release/refcount point. There is no first release followed by a second lifetime mutation through the exact same reference.
* No additional Availability point. The same kernel fault is already counted once.
* No Confidentiality or Integrity points. The stale pointer does not establish disclosure or unauthorized modification.
* No hard-race penalty. The problem is an ordered failure path rather than an established narrow race.
* No privilege penalty. Host-admin-equivalent privilege is not positively established, but below-host-admin reachability is also not established.
* NEW52 B5-R does not apply. There is no retry-accumulated heap OOB write.
* NEW53 B3-PENDING does not apply. There is no shared-backing write.
* NEW54 B4-PENDING does not apply. No authorization decision changes from DENY to ALLOW.
3. Reachability analysis
The trigger requires a wiphy associated with a network namespace, destruction of that namespace, and failure while moving one or more wireless interfaces back to `init_net`. The commit identifies allocation failure as the remaining relevant failure condition.
The supplied evidence does not establish whether an ordinary user can perform the complete setup. Network namespace creation alone is insufficient because moving or provisioning a namespace-aware wiphy may involve privileges over host-owned wireless state. It is also not shown that every required capability check is evaluated in an attacker-created user or network namespace.
Accordingly, `HostAdminRequired` and `NamespaceScopedPrivilege` remain UNKNOWN. Prior host-privileged setup may be required, but that prerequisite is not proven from the supplied patch. There is no direct remote trigger and no special packet sequence reaches the vulnerable operation.
This is not a timing race. The primary trigger limitation is reaching the interface-migration failure during namespace teardown, especially the allocation-failure branch.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is a stale post-lifetime `struct net` pointer retained through the wiphy after migration from a dying network namespace fails. The pointer is subsequently passed into generic-netlink multicast processing during wiphy unregister.
This is an active structured object lifetime violation and therefore CLASS_B rather than a simple NULL dereference. However, the demonstrated use is limited to namespace-exit and unregister cleanup. It produces an immediate low-address kernel fault, and the evidence does not show controlled replacement, nontrivial processing of reclaimed fields, repeated refcount mutation, disclosure, or a write primitive.
The demonstrated consequence is host kernel crash and denial of service. A stronger consequence would require evidence that reclaimed namespace storage can be shaped and meaningfully consumed before the fault. That mechanism is not established.
`ImportantCandidate=NO` because this is presently a constrained cleanup-path UAF without meaningful unresolved exploitation leverage. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because no repeated lifetime mutation, controlled reclaim, security-boundary bypass, or independently useful corruption primitive remains unresolved. Operational severity is ordinary-to-borderline Moderate, subject to deployment-specific reachability.
5. One-sentence report phrase
A failed cfg80211 interface migration during network namespace teardown can leave a wiphy with a stale netns pointer that is later dereferenced during unregister, causing a local kernel crash without an established non-crash exploitation primitive.
6. Manual review recommendation
MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED
Confirm whether an ordinary user can place a usable wiphy in an attacker-created network namespace and reliably induce the migration failure. Current evidence supports a constrained crash-only UAF but does not resolve the complete privilege boundary.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: high
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: wifi: cfg80211: get the wiphy out of a dying network namespace [ Upstream
Commit: caa02072b2986d4b0e7a824de05782ef7b03a0ba
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=caa02072b2986d4b0e7a824de05782ef7b03a0ba
Changed files:
net/wireless/core.c
Diff excerpt:
Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.
Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=caa02072b2986d4b0e7a824de05782ef7b03a0ba
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98330 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98330
The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.
The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.
The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.
Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:
Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 7
The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.
CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.
A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.
Conservative ActionableScore: unknown
Paranoid ActionableScore: 3
The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.
For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:
ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR
ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0
The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.
There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).
KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.
AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE REGULAR
These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).
Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is [email protected] (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).
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