CVE-2026-100076

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

staging: rtl8723bs: fix xmit_frame/xmit_buf leaks on mgnt-frame error paths

issue_beacon(), issue_probersp() and issue_asocrsp() obtain a management xmit_frame together with its xmit_buf from the drivers fixed-size management-TX pools via alloc_mgtxmitframe(). On the normal path the frame is handed to dump_mgntframe(), which transfers ownership and eventually returns both objects to their pools (the frame and, for beacons, the buf in rtl8723bs_mgnt_xmit(); other bufs via the pending-xmitbuf/TX-completion path).

Several error/edge paths return early after a successful alloc_mgtxmitframe() but before dump_mgntframe(), so ownership is never transferred and neither object is freed:

• issue_beacon(): beacon larger than 512 bytes
• issue_probersp(): cur_network->ie_length > MAX_IE_SZ
• issue_probersp(): kzalloc() of the SSID scratch buffer fails
• issue_asocrsp(): pkt_type is neither ASSOCRSP nor REASSOCRSP

Because alloc_mgtxmitframe() removes the frame and buf from their free lists (list_del_init) without placing them on any pending list, an orphaned pair is on no list and referenced by nobody, so it is only reclaimed at driver teardown. Repeated hits progressively exhaust the management-TX pools until alloc_mgtxmitframe() returns NULL and the interface can no longer send beacons or probe/assoc responses.

Free the frame and buffer on these paths, matching the existing correct error handling in issue_assocreq().

Weakness

The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone.
• For example, glibc in Linux provides protection against free of invalid pointers.
• When using Xcode to target OS X or iOS, enable automatic reference counting (ARC) [REF-391].
• To help correctly and consistently manage memory when programming in C++, consider using a smart pointer class such as std::auto_ptr (defined by ISO/IEC ISO/IEC 14882:2003), std::shared_ptr and std::unique_ptr (specified by an upcoming revision of the C++ standard, informally referred to as C++ 1x), or equivalent solutions such as Boost.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41b8209376dffbd7b0b85c8bc4697d9166ac62ef
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6c9f6a3b9fdd31a0836b681053155b5997c0156e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c48e5aa01525577d6b6e782962a5bfb0e1535cb5