CVE-2026-23281

HIGHNVD 7.87.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-03-25. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
7.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

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.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(medium)
EPSS
2.6%
KEV
Not listed

Published

March 25, 2026

Last Modified

May 22, 2026

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated Jun 10, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ed7d30f90b77f73a47498686ede83f622b7e4f0d
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0155fe68f31b339961cf2d4f92937d57e9384e6
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b15e0fa7adb4de3a03aee9e6fc4d83e5cf0a65e4
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9f55b14486426d907459bced5825a25063bd922
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3f9dec4a6d95d7f1f5e9e9dfdfa173c053bba8dc
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3c5c818c78b03a1725f3dcd566865c77b48dd3a6
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09f3c30ab3b1371eaf9676a1b8add57bca763083
generic

wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03cc8f90d0537fcd4985c3319b4fafbf2e3fb1f0

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-23281(2)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
linuxKernel @ 6.1.167osv

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 11× in last 7d / 46× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 124 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-29 05:02 UTCOSV refresh
  3. 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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  7. 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
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  10. 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
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  22. 2026-06-15 17:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-14 23:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-13 23:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-13 23:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-12 23:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-11 23:33 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-06-11 23:33 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-06-11 23:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-06-11 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-10 22:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-10 17:30 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-06-10 17:30 UTCVendor advisory
  34. 2026-06-10 17:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-06-10 13:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-10 05:27 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-06-10 05:27 UTCVendor advisory
  38. 2026-06-10 05:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  39. 2026-06-09 15:58 UTCEG score recompute
  40. 2026-06-09 15:58 UTCVendor advisory
  41. 2026-06-09 15:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-06-08 14:35 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-06-08 14:35 UTCVendor advisory
  44. 2026-06-08 14:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  45. 2026-06-08 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-06-08 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-06-08 01:08 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-06-08 01:08 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-06-08 01:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-06-07 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-06-07 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-06-07 12:36 UTCEG score recompute 7.80
  53. 2026-06-07 12:36 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-06-07 12:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-06-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
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  68. 2026-06-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-06-01 07:13 UTCOSV refresh
  70. 2026-05-31 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
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  75. 2026-05-29 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-23281?
CVE-2026-23281 is a high vulnerability published on March 25, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbsfreeadapter() The lbsfreeadapter() function uses timer_delete() (non-synchronous) for both commandtimer and txlockup_timer before the structure is freed. This is incorrect because…
When was CVE-2026-23281 disclosed?
CVE-2026-23281 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on March 25, 2026, with the most recent update on May 22, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-23281 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-23281 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 2.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-23281?
CVE-2026-23281 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-23281?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-23281, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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