CVE-2026-23281: Linux Kernel

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() The lbs_free_adapter() function uses timer_delete() (non-synchronous) for both command_timer and tx_lockup_timer before the structure is freed. This is incorrect because timer_delete() does not wait for any running timer callback to complete. If a timer callback is executing when lbs_free_adapter() is called, the callback will access freed memory since lbs_cfg_free() frees the containing structure immediately after lbs_free_adapter() returns. Both timer callbacks (lbs_cmd_timeout_handler and lbs_tx_lockup_handler) access priv->driver_lock, priv->cur_cmd, priv->dev, and other fields, which would all be use-after-free violations. Use timer_delete_sync() instead to ensure any running timer callback has completed before returning. This bug was introduced in commit 8f641d93c38a ("libertas: detect TX lockups and reset hardware") where del_timer() was used instead of del_timer_sync() in the cleanup path. The command_timer has had the same issue since the driver was first written.

Affected products

• Linux Linux Kernel: from 2.6.24, before 5.10.253 (fixed in 5.10.253); from 5.11, before 5.15.203 (fixed in 5.15.203); from 5.16, before 6.1.167 (fixed in 6.1.167); from 6.2, before 6.6.130 (fixed in 6.6.130); from 6.7, before 6.12.78 (fixed in 6.12.78); from 6.13, before 6.18.17 (fixed in 6.18.17); …

Published 2026-03-25. Last modified 2026-06-17.