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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2026-23281 json

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter()

published 2026-03-25 7 mo ago modified 2026-10-15 25 d ago also EUVD-2026-15203

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 2%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter()

The lbs_free_adapter() function uses timer_delete() (non-synchronous) for both command_timer and tx_lockup_timer before the structure is freed. This is incorrect because timer_delete() does not wait for any running timer callback to complete.

If a timer callback is executing when lbs_free_adapter() is called, the callback will access freed memory since lbs_cfg_free() frees the containing structure immediately after lbs_free_adapter() returns.

Both timer callbacks (lbs_cmd_timeout_handler and lbs_tx_lockup_handler) access priv->driver_lock, priv->cur_cmd, priv->dev, and other fields, which would all be use-after-free violations.

Use timer_delete_sync() instead to ensure any running timer callback has completed before returning.

This bug was introduced in commit 8f641d93c38a ("libertas: detect TX lockups and reset hardware") where del_timer() was used instead of del_timer_sync() in the cleanup path. The command_timer has had the same issue since the driver was first written.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.78, 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.170-1
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.85-1
  • linux Debian 14 6.19.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23281

  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-186.196
  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-136.136
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1112.119
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1061.64
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1112.122
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1064.72
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1108.114
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1059.67

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23281

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.37.2
  • kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.37.1
  • kernel-source-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.37.2
  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-64kb Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.27.1.160000.2.8

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:1573-1SUSE-SU-2026:21237-1SUSE-SU-2026:21230-1SUSE-SU-2026:21255-1SUSE-SU-2026:21123-1SUSE-SU-2026:21114-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.28.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:20572-1

  • kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.130.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-80700

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-23281 updated

kernel: wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

cisa ICSA-26-295-16 updated cvss 6.3

Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP

  • Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP - GNU/Linux subsystem
    affected: mitigation, no fix available

Facts from CISA's republication of the vendor's own advisory (CSAF); the linked advisory is the authoritative source. CISA notification · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 2% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux
  • Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP - GNU/Linux subsystem

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.