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
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
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
Advisories
No advisories yet.
Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Tue, 06 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Title | wifi: ath11k: cleanup arsta in ath11k_mac_peer_cleanup_all() | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-10-06T08:46:04.301Z
Reserved: 2026-09-25T10:25:14.338Z
Link: CVE-2026-98307
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-10-06T09:18:21.950
Modified: 2026-10-06T09:18:21.950
Link: CVE-2026-98307
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.