CVE-2026-72004
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_register_hw() If kmemdup() fails while copying supported band structures, the error path jumps to fail_rate. This skips rate_control_deinitialize() and leaks the initialized local->rate_ctrl. Fix this by adding a fail_band label that shares the rate-control cleanup path before falling through to the remaining teardown. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1-rc7. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have a suitable mac80211 device/driver combination to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
4.20
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.261,
5.15.212,
6.1.178,
6.6.145,
6.12.97,
6.18.40,
7.1.5,
7.2-rc4
and their respective stable series.
References
8 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-72004?
CVE-2026-72004 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.20 onward and has been patched in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178 and others. CVE-2026-72004 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72004?
Yes. CVE-2026-72004 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.20 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-72004 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-72004 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.