LowCVE-2026-98426

    Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-98426)

    Published Last modified Sources: Ubuntu, HKCERT, Debian LTS, Debian, SUSE, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD, CVE.org, BSI

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    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path mwifiex_pcie_request_irq() registers each MSI-X vector with a per-index dev_id (&card->msix_ctx[i]). On a request_irq() failure the cleanup loop "for (j = 0; j < i; j++)" frees msix_entries[j].vector but passes the failed index's &card->msix_ctx[i] as the dev_id. free_irq() matches on (irq, dev_id), so it fails to find the action registered with &card->msix_ctx[j]: the already-requested IRQ j is not freed (leaked) and free_irq() warns about freeing a non-existent IRQ.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.10.271, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.222, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.189.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.6..5.10.271
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.11..5.15.222
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.16..6.1.189
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.2..6.6.158
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.112
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.54
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.2.8
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.271
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.222
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.189
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.158
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.112
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.54
    • Linux Kernel 7.2.8
    • Linux Kernel 7.3

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    1.9

    XIEM Effective CVSS

    Highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    1.9

    CVSS v3

    Severity Low on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Ubuntu, HKCERT, Debian LTS, Debian, SUSE, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD, CVE.org, BSI

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 12.7

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Low
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    40.78 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    1.9 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    1.9
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.2 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    12.7
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path mwifiex_pcie_request_irq() registers each MSI-X vector with a per-index dev_id (&card->msix_ctx[i]). On a request_irq() failure the cleanup loop "for (j = 0; j < i; j++)" frees msix_entries[j].vector but passes the failed index's &card->msix_ctx[i] as the dev_id. free_irq() matches on (irq, dev_id), so it fails to find the action registered with &card->msix_ctx[j]: the already-requested IRQ j is not freed (leaked) and free_irq() warns about freeing a non-existent IRQ. Use &card->msix_ctx[j].

    Source: Ubuntu Security Notices, HKCERT (CC BY 3.0 HK) · HKCERT rating: medium, Debian LTS Advisories, Debian Security Advisories, suse_csaf, Microsoft Security Update Guide, ENISA EUVD, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.189
    • 6.19 – < 7.2.8
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.158
    • —
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.112
    • 5.11 – < 5.15.222
    • 4.6 – < 5.10.271
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.54
    • 6.1.189
    • 7.2.8
    • 6.6.158
    • 7.3
    • 6.12.112
    • 5.15.222
    • 5.10.271
    • 6.18.54

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinuxbookworm
    Linuxdebianlinuxtrixie
    Linuxubuntulinuxjammy
    Linuxubuntulinuxnoble
    Linuxubuntulinuxresolute
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.12bookworm
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-7.0noble
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-fipsjammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-fipsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azurejammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azurenoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azureresolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fdenoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fderesolute
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fde-5.15focal
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fde-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fde-7.0noble

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedLinux

      1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98426.json">CVE-2026-98426</a>

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    2. ReceivedLinux

      Description added or changed

      Show 10 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionadded
      —
      In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path mwifiex_pcie_request_irq() registers each MSI-X vector with a per-index dev_id (&card->msix_ctx[i]). On a request_irq() failure the cleanup loop "for (j = 0; j < i; j++)" frees msix_entries[j].vector but passes the failed index's &card->msix_ctx[i] as the dev_id. free_irq() matches on (irq, dev_id), so it fails to find the action registered with &card->msix_ctx[j]: the already-requested IRQ j is not freed (leaked) and free_irq() warns about freeing a non-existent IRQ. Use &card->msix_ctx[j].
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98426.json">CVE-2026-98426</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03d5e4776e8b71c2468c5c3c48b39202c87a8796
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0969c9688389f2e0f65b1a924b0dd6625a3bb776
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11bc2cbb14f450eaa47cce9eb086f948ef8f4bcd
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a60cb2292194cc9eafae7ca8a8a72d37ae78d97
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2761b21cb896b1da8dd46cee5084c9032b2d7098
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5fd4cc87e6cc0839aac89c24ebe39ce262fe088f
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3d722190cdef18da4878b5efc27c3c386dda248
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fcac5813f324cd07dfd36b4adf624fc70f7587d6

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

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