Reference page — cumulative record through Saturday, October 3, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2026-98160

CVE-2026-98160MEDIUM

Linux Linux — staging: rtl8723bs: fix mismatched free of HalData in rtw_sdio_if1_init()

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   L   N  U  N  N  H    5.5   .0016    5.1     —

AFFECTED
  Product  Versions                                    Fixed
  Linux    554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b –  —
  Linux    4.12 –                                      5.10.270

TIMELINE
  Sep 25  Reserved by Linux
  Sep 25  Published (CNA: Linux)
  Oct 2   ENRICHED — CVE-2026-98160 (Linux). Received CVSS 5.5 and CPE data from NVD.

CWE-763 · CNA: Linux · CVSS v3.1 · 8 references · NVD status: Analyzed

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: staging: rtl8723bs: fix mismatched free of HalData in rtw_sdio_if1_init() padapter->HalData is allocated via vzalloc(), but incorrectly freed using kfree() in the rtw_sdio_if1_init() error path. Using kfree() to release this vmalloc-backed buffer can lead to memory corruption. Use rtw_hal_data_deinit() to pair the free correctly and free HalData with vfree(). The bug was first flagged by an experimental static analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs. Manual inspection confirms that the issue is still present in current mainline. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have suitable RTL8723BS SDIO hardware to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
September 25, 2026	Reserved	Reserved by Linux
September 25, 2026	Published	Published (CNA: Linux)
October 2, 2026	ENRICHED	ENRICHED — CVE-2026-98160 (Linux). Received CVSS 5.5 and CPE data from NVD.

Affected

Affected products and packages — 2 rows
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
Linux	Linux	—	554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b	—
Linux	Linux	—	4.12	5.10.270

Weaknesses

CWE-763

References (8)

Authoritative record: CVE-2026-98160 at cve.org

Vendors: linux

Weaknesses: CWE-763

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-98160 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Saturday, October 3, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.