Linux Kernel DFS Radar UAF via unsafe chanctx iteration
CVE-2026-46166 Published on May 28, 2026
wifi: mac80211: use safe list iteration in radar detect work
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: mac80211: use safe list iteration in radar detect work
The call to ieee80211_dfs_cac_cancel can cause the iterated chanctx to
be freed and removed from the list. Guard against this to avoid a
slab-use-after-free error.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-46166 is exploitable with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Weakness Type
What is a Dangling pointer Vulnerability?
The program dereferences a pointer that contains a location for memory that was previously valid, but is no longer valid. When a program releases memory, but it maintains a pointer to that memory, then the memory might be re-allocated at a later time. If the original pointer is accessed to read or write data, then this could cause the program to read or modify data that is in use by a different function or process. Depending on how the newly-allocated memory is used, this could lead to a denial of service, information exposure, or code execution.
CVE-2026-46166 has been classified to as a Dangling pointer vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-46166
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version bca8bc0399ac2efd56e6adbed0307e10125a556c and below 887ece6c23b49d02a6678e7a8d5ad213d75883ce is affected.
- Version bca8bc0399ac2efd56e6adbed0307e10125a556c and below 7577a4b8a10fab45a6ee2045ea038a5adadbb585 is affected.
- Version bca8bc0399ac2efd56e6adbed0307e10125a556c and below 120149fb3ebcf674832ca3cafd32bedcdb686dde is affected.
- Version bca8bc0399ac2efd56e6adbed0307e10125a556c and below ac8eb3e18f41e2cc8492cc1d358bcb786c850270 is affected.
- Version 6.12 is affected.
- Before 6.12 is unaffected.
- Version 6.12.88, <= 6.12.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.30, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.0.7, <= 7.0.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.1, <= * is unaffected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.