---
id: CVE-2026-98704
title: 'wifi: mac80211: keep fallback association elements alive'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  wifi: mac80211: keep fallback association elements alive

  Associating to a non-transmitted MBSSID profile reads freed memory while
  determining the operating channel and…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f <
    1d9644753d46c86b4e5c05bd6d9d35339ea27331
  - >-
    Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f <
    d0183cd1f6a2dba9e63be20af2f65093c9c8d121
  - >-
    Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f <
    0878594c5806dd29fa5e16cc026ce19158afdad2
  - >-
    Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f <
    a10a2f80476d166fd81c361ec0319493671b694e
  - Linux 5.2
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-18'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-18T15:46:34.493Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98704'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d9644753d46c86b4e5c05bd6d9d35339ea27331'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0183cd1f6a2dba9e63be20af2f65093c9c8d121'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0878594c5806dd29fa5e16cc026ce19158afdad2'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a10a2f80476d166fd81c361ec0319493671b694e'
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T16:47:32.514Z'
---

## Overview

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

wifi: mac80211: keep fallback association elements alive

Associating to a non-transmitted MBSSID profile reads freed memory while
determining the operating channel and applying HT capabilities.

When an association response omits WMM, HT, or VHT information,
ieee80211_assoc_config_link() parses the cached BSS IEs and copies the
missing element pointers out of that fallback parse. For a
non-transmitted MBSSID profile those pointers refer to merged-profile
storage owned by the parse object, and the fallback block frees that
object at its end. The copied pointers are used afterwards to determine
the operating channel, configure bandwidth, and apply HT capabilities.

Keep the fallback parse result alive until association setup finishes.

[reorder variable declaration]

## Affected

- `Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f < 1d9644753d46c86b4e5c05bd6d9d35339ea27331`
- `Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f < d0183cd1f6a2dba9e63be20af2f65093c9c8d121`
- `Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f < 0878594c5806dd29fa5e16cc026ce19158afdad2`
- `Linux >= 5023b14cf4df4d22e1a80738167f3438c9e62e5f < a10a2f80476d166fd81c361ec0319493671b694e`
- `Linux 5.2`

## Remediation

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