CVE-2026-72004
N/AIn 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.
No known exploitation, public exploit, or elevated probability at this time. Track for changes.
Exploitation likelihood
0.2%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 12th percentile
Impact if exploited
—CVSS · not scored
- No impact metrics
Proof of concept & exploit code
- github-search Search GitHub for public PoC repos
Test against your own equipment
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-72004/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-72004/poc.json
References
Technical & other
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f01eec75fd372961550b928902f3a2c11fca1daf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d8b9b290421c3cd505fcd2f551f143f8142786a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08b71bd92317f99642b842cfc0d30200868162fc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a02b52fe54f7b5107aefa1ce28c2f69749c57616
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/45e9ac538cdff7bce656d731114a64eda85af0d7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc0b8bfdc142439d6708b072e8159eb515ee7b0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7584f261e64fe14e45bdf70f343e16c1ee3a037
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95fc02722edde02946d0d475221f2b2054d3d8ba