{"id":"CVE-2026-23444","summary":"wifi: mac80211: always free skb on ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() failure","details":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwifi: mac80211: always free skb on ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() failure\n\nieee80211_tx_prepare_skb() has three error paths, but only two of them\nfree the skb. The first error path (ieee80211_tx_prepare() returning\nTX_DROP) does not free it, while invoke_tx_handlers() failure and the\nfragmentation check both do.\n\nAdd kfree_skb() to the first error path so all three are consistent,\nand remove the now-redundant frees in callers (ath9k, mt76,\nmac80211_hwsim) to avoid double-free.\n\nDocument the skb ownership guarantee in the function's kdoc.","modified":"2026-04-14T03:47:41.822131Z","published":"2026-04-03T15:15:28.464Z","database_specific":{"osv_generated_from":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23444.json","cna_assigner":"Linux"},"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/06e769dddcbeb3baf2ce346273b53dd61fdbecf4"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/50f1b690b4868923fbd242298def2fb88662f108"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5ad6ab61cbd89afdb60881f6274f74328af3ee9"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23444.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23444"}],"affected":[{"ranges":[{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","events":[{"introduced":"06be6b149f7e406bcf16098567f5a6c9f042bced"},{"fixed":"06e769dddcbeb3baf2ce346273b53dd61fdbecf4"},{"fixed":"50f1b690b4868923fbd242298def2fb88662f108"},{"fixed":"d5ad6ab61cbd89afdb60881f6274f74328af3ee9"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/osv-test-cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-23444.json"}},{"package":{"name":"Kernel","ecosystem":"Linux"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"3.13.0"},{"fixed":"6.18.20"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.19.0"},{"fixed":"6.19.10"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/osv-test-cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-23444.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.7.5"}