CVE-2026-68408 is a vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Published on August 10, 2026
wifi: cfg80211: convert pmsr_free_wk to wiphy_work to fix deadlock
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
wifi: cfg80211: convert pmsr_free_wk to wiphy_work to fix deadlock
When a netlink socket that owns a PMSR session is closed,
cfg80211_release_pmsr() clears the request's nl_portid and queues
pmsr_free_wk to call cfg80211_pmsr_process_abort() asynchronously.
If the interface tears down concurrently, cfg80211_pmsr_wdev_down()
is called under wiphy_lock and calls cancel_work_sync(&pmsr_free_wk)
to wait for any running work. The work function acquires wiphy_lock
via guard(wiphy) before calling process_abort.
This is a deadlock: wdev_down holds wiphy_lock and blocks inside
cancel_work_sync(); pmsr_free_wk blocks trying to acquire that same
wiphy_lock. Neither thread can proceed.
The same deadlock is reachable from cfg80211_leave_locked(), which
calls cfg80211_pmsr_wdev_down() for all interface types under
wiphy_lock.
Fix this by converting pmsr_free_wk from a plain work_struct to a
wiphy_work. The wiphy_work dispatcher holds wiphy_lock when running
work items, so the explicit guard(wiphy) in the work function is no
longer needed. wiphy_work_cancel() can be called safely while holding
wiphy_lock - since wiphy_lock prevents the work from running
concurrently, wiphy_work_cancel() never blocks, eliminating the
deadlock.
Remove the cancel_work_sync() for pmsr_free_wk from the
NETDEV_GOING_DOWN handler. cfg80211_leave(), called unconditionally
just before it, already cancels any pending work under wiphy_lock
via wiphy_work_cancel() inside cfg80211_pmsr_wdev_down().
Products Associated with CVE-2026-68408
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version d32c07ef1880fe20cf4ab223dbfedc9c0b2816aa and below 21512b5f7a74fd18c996c22e6854efe57d570816 is affected.
- Version a1b7a843f12a0c3e9d3a2ca607ce451916ef42cf and below 133684982dd0c24359fcc641d19d89cc17d6e5ef is affected.
- Version 6dccbc9f3e1d38565dff7730d2b7d1e8b16c9b09 and below 0a77d9fb4d5c0e01306cd406ffdee8f1fe955c0e is affected.
- Version 6dccbc9f3e1d38565dff7730d2b7d1e8b16c9b09 and below 2b0eab425e1f658d8fe1df7590e3b9af5959505e is affected.
- Version 28d3551f8d8cb3aec7497894d94150fe84d20e5e is affected.
- Version 37e776e2e0a523731e2470dce6d563f0e8632a40 is affected.
- Version 72b7ea786b8e570ae11149e9089859a4a8634a13 is affected.
- Version 6.12.78 and below 6.12.101 is affected.
- Version 6.18.20 and below 6.18.42 is affected.
- Version 6.1.167 and below 6.2 is affected.
- Version 6.6.130 and below 6.7 is affected.
- Version 6.19.10 and below 6.20 is affected.
- Version 7.0 is affected.
- Before 7.0 is unaffected.
- Version 6.12.101, <= 6.12.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.42, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.1.6, <= 7.1.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.2-rc4, <= * is unaffected.