---
id: CVE-2023-52530
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  wifi: mac80211: fix potential key use-after-free

  When ieee80211_key_link() is called by ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add()
  but returns 0 due to KRACK protection (identical key …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  wifi: mac80211: fix potential key use-after-free

  When ieee80211_key_link() is called by ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add()
  but returns 0 due to KRACK protection (identical key …
severity: high
cvss: 8.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-416
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 4.14, < 5.4.285'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.288'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.169'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.57'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.5.7'
  - linux_kernel = 6.6
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.5.7
published: '2024-03-02'
updated: '2026-08-04'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52530'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2408f491ff998d674707725eadc47d8930aced09'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f4e16e39e4f5e78248dd9e51276a83203950b36'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31db78a4923ef5e2008f2eed321811ca79e7f71b'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65c72a7201704574dace708cbc96a8f367b1491d'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8a834eb09bb95c2bf9c76f1a28ecef7d8c439d0'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8e599a635066c50ac214c3e10858f1d37e03022'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f4e16e39e4f5e78248dd9e51276a83203950b36'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31db78a4923ef5e2008f2eed321811ca79e7f71b'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65c72a7201704574dace708cbc96a8f367b1491d'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00002.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00339
epssPercentile: 0.24613
ingestedAt: '2026-08-05T05:58:02.216Z'
---

## Overview

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

wifi: mac80211: fix potential key use-after-free

When ieee80211_key_link() is called by ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add()
but returns 0 due to KRACK protection (identical key reinstall),
ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add() will still return a pointer into the
key, in a potential use-after-free. This normally doesn't happen
since it's only called by iwlwifi in case of WoWLAN rekey offload
which has its own KRACK protection, but still better to fix, do
that by returning an error code and converting that to success on
the cfg80211 boundary only, leaving the error for bad callers of
ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add().

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 4.14, < 5.4.285`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.288`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.169`
- `linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.57`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.5.7`
- `linux_kernel = 6.6`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.5.7`