Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-74661

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mac802154: fix netdev use-after-free in beacon worker mac802154_beacon_worker() reads local->beacon_req under RCU and derives the sub-interface from the request, but then drops the RCU read lock and continues to use both sdata and the embedded wpan_dev. mac802154_stop_beacons_locked() cancels only pending beacon work, clears local->beacon_req and frees the request. A beacon worker that is already running can therefore continue after interface teardown and dereference the freed netdev private area. The scan worker already pins the netdev before leaving RCU. Apply the same lifetime rule to the beacon worker: take a netdev reference while the request is still protected by RCU, and release it on all paths that continue after the reference is acquired.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (5.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 5.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-74661: held from 0.001 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-74661?
CVE-2026-74661 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-08-22.
How severe is CVE-2026-74661?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.