{"id":"CVE-2026-98706","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-98706"],"related":[],"title":"Linux kernel: wifi station teardown race can deliver queued frames late","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: drain PS delivery work during station teardown\n\nRemoving an AP or mesh station can notify the driver and wake TXQs after\nthe station has already been removed from the driver, and can update\nnum_sta_ps and the power-save queues after station cleanup has purged\nthem.\n\nsta_deliver_ps_frames() tests sta->dead only before it starts delivery. A\nworker that passes that test can be delayed while teardown sets sta->dead\nand removes the station from the driver; when it resumes it still runs the\nfull delivery.\n\nThe existing cancel_work_sync() sits near the end of\n__cleanup_single_sta(), after the final driver state transition and after\nPS accounting and queue purging, so it drains the worker only once the\nstate it has to protect has already changed. Before commit d34ba2168a3c\n(\"mac80211: don't delay station destruction\") cleanup was deferred\nthrough the same ordered workqueue as the delivery work, which kept the\ntwo ordered.\n\nCancel the work after setting sta->dead and before moving the driver\nstate, and move the existing cancellation to the start of\n__cleanup_single_sta(). The first drain closes the driver-lifetime window;\ndriver callbacks during the remaining state transitions can still queue\ndrv_deliver_wk through ieee80211_sta_block_awake(), so retain the second\ndrain at the start of __cleanup_single_sta(). That drain also covers\ninsertion failures, which reach cleanup without setting sta->dead.","summary":"When an access point or mesh station is removed, a power-save delivery worker in mac80211 can resume after the station is gone and still send buffered frames. The sources do not state a confirmed attacker outcome beyond this use-after-teardown race.","severity":"unknown","cvss":null,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["access-point","linux-kernel","mac80211","mesh","package","wifi"],"not_affected_if":["client-only","no-mac80211-wifi"],"how_to_check":null,"fix":null,"status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:24+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:16+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-25T05:18:48+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-25T05:18:48+00:00","category":"package","confidence":0.3,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-25T05:18:48Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"unknown","reach":"local","title":"Linux kernel: wifi station teardown race can deliver queued frames late","impact":"low","summary":"When an access point or mesh station is removed, a power-save delivery worker in mac80211 can resume after the station is gone and still send buffered frames. The sources do not state a confirmed attacker outcome beyond this use-after-teardown race.","category":"package","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["linux-kernel","wifi","mac80211","access-point","mesh"],"confidence":0.3,"needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"unknown","analyst_note":"Check the upstream kernel commit and NVD entry for affected version ranges, fixed stable kernels, and whether the race is reachable remotely by a nearby client.","how_to_check":"unknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-mac80211-wifi","client-only"],"who_is_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the mac80211 Wi-Fi stack that act as an access point or mesh node and handle power-save clients. Other Linux machines and hosts without mac80211 Wi-Fi are unlikely to be affected, but the sources do not confirm the exact affected kernel versions.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000602,"input_tokens":3716,"output_tokens":461,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':13A,16A '-98706':14A,17A 'access':19B,30B 'access-point':18B 'account':197C 'alreadi':109C,215C 'also':309C 'ap':94C 'attack':64B 'awak':294C 'beyond':66B 'block':293C 'buffer':55B 'callback':278C 'cancel':177C,243C,260C 'chang':216C 'cleanup':129C,185C,226C,265C,304C,315C 'close':271C 'commit':218C 'confirm':63B 'cover':310C 'cve':12A,15A 'd34ba2168a3c':219C 'dead':139C,158C,249C,319C 'defer':228C 'delay':153C,223C 'deliv':8A,134C,288C 'deliveri':41B,87C,144C,174C,236C 'destruct':225C 'drain':85C,203C,270C,299C,308C 'driver':101C,114C,165C,191C,254C,274C,277C 'driver-lifetim':273C 'drv':287C 'end':183C 'exist':176C,259C 'failur':312C 'final':190C 'first':269C 'follow':78C 'frame':10A,56B,136C 'full':173C 'gone':51B 'ieee80211':291C 'insert':311C 'kept':239C 'kernel':2A,23B,76C 'late':11A 'lifetim':275C 'linux':1A,22B,75C 'linux-kernel':21B 'mac80211':24B,44B,84C,220C 'mesh':25B,33B,96C 'move':252C,257C 'near':181C 'notifi':99C 'num':118C 'order':232C,242C 'outcom':65B 'packag':26B 'pass':148C 'point':20B,31B 'power':39B,124C 'power-sav':38B,123C 'protect':213C 'ps':86C,120C,135C,196C 'purg':131C,200C 'queu':9A 'queue':126C,199C,286C 'race':6A,72B 'reach':314C 'remain':281C 'remov':36B,92C,111C,160C 'resolv':82C 'resum':46B,168C 'retain':296C 'run':171C 'save':40B,125C 'second':298C 'send':54B 'set':156C,247C,317C 'singl':186C,266C,305C 'sit':180C 'sourc':58B 'sta':119C,133C,138C,157C,187C,248C,267C,292C,306C,318C 'start':143C,263C,302C 'state':61B,192C,209C,255C,282C 'station':4A,34B,49B,90C,97C,107C,128C,162C,224C 'still':53B,170C,285C 'sync':179C 'teardown':5A,71B,91C,155C 'test':137C,150C 'transit':193C,283C 'two':241C 'txqs':104C 'updat':117C 'use':69B 'use-after-teardown':68B 'vulner':79C 'wake':103C 'wifi':3A,27B,83C 'window':276C 'without':316C 'wk':289C 'work':88C,178C,237C,245C 'worker':42B,146C,205C 'workqueu':233C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the mac80211 Wi-Fi stack that act as an access point or mesh node and handle power-save clients. Other Linux machines and hosts without mac80211 Wi-Fi are unlikely to be affected, but the sources do not confirm the exact affected kernel versions.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:24+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":null,"cvss_by":null,"poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-98706","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98706","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:24+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-21T13:21:38+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:16+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T22:28:56+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}