---
id: CVE-2026-98073
title: >-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:


  net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in
  __dev_change_net_namespace().


  syzbot reported the warning in cfg80211_pernet_exit()
summary: >-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:


  net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in
  __dev_change_net_namespace().


  syzbot reported the warning in cfg80211_pernet_exit(). [0]


  The repro does the follow…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 36fbf1e52bd3ff8a5cb604955eedfc9350c2e6cc <
    a29ea5b5034654aaaa4aadd771f48c01abfd2dfa
  - >-
    Linux >= 36fbf1e52bd3ff8a5cb604955eedfc9350c2e6cc <
    ac6631843269e6a9b2164e393b7f729328711d78
  - >-
    Linux >= 36fbf1e52bd3ff8a5cb604955eedfc9350c2e6cc <
    debac3a20dec524a59625cf10fa2f18571127824
  - Linux 5.5
published: '2026-09-25'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T15:18:05.580'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98073'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a29ea5b5034654aaaa4aadd771f48c01abfd2dfa'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac6631843269e6a9b2164e393b7f729328711d78'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/debac3a20dec524a59625cf10fa2f18571127824'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T11:06:38.838Z'
---

## Overview

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

net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

syzbot reported the warning in cfg80211_pernet_exit(). [0]

The repro does the following:

  1. create two device in root netns and non-root netns
  2. assign the same altname for the two devices
  3. remove the non-root netns

Since commit 7663d522099e ("net: check for altname conflicts
when changing netdev's netns"), cfg80211_switch_netns() and
cfg802154_switch_netns() fail if init_net has a device with the
conflicting altname.

default_device_exit_net() had the same issue and commit d09486a04f5d
("net: fix removing a namespace with conflicting altnames") fixed it.

cfg80211_pernet_exit() and cfg802154_pernet_exit() need the same fix.

Let's generalise the fix by removing conflicting altnames for dying
netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

[0]:
cfg80211_switch_netns(rdev, &init_net)
WARNING: net/wireless/core.c:1871 at cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871, CPU#1: kworker/u8:9/1160
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1160 Comm: kworker/u8:9 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Workqueue: netns cleanup_net
RIP: 0010:cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871
Code: e8 03 42 80 3c 20 00 74 08 4c 89 f7 e8 b4 ef 0e f7 4d 8b 36 49 81 fe 20 10 4a 90 74 12 e8 03 3d 9f f6 eb 85 e8 fc 3c 9f f6 90 <0f> 0b 90 eb cc e8 f1 3c 9f f6 eb 05 e8 ea 3c 9f f6 5b 41 5c 41 5e
RSP: 0018:ffffc900057a78f0 EFLAGS: 00010293
RAX: ffffffff8b287154 RBX: ffff88807ba72780 RCX: ffff8880213e8000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000ffffffef RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 00000000ffffffef R08: ffffffff9024cc67 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: fffff52000af4eb0 R11: fffffbfff204998d R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffffffff904a1080 R14: ffff888144ed0008 R15: ffff888144ed0e20
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888124de6000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005642de0a8a70 CR3: 000000007a40c000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ops_exit_list net/core/net_namespace.c:200 [inline]
 ops_undo_list+0x43d/0x8d0 net/core/net_namespace.c:253
 cleanup_net+0x572/0x810 net/core/net_namespace.c:706
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3387 [inline]
 process_scheduled_works+0xc3d/0x1630 kernel/workqueue.c:3470
 worker_thread+0xa47/0xfb0 kernel/workqueue.c:3551
 kthread+0x38b/0x480 kernel/kthread.c:436
 ret_from_fork+0x514/0xb70 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.