A race condition exists within the mac80211 wireless stack where an internal result variable is declared static, allowing concurrent network calls to overwrite each other’s results. This can cause a packet that should be queued or discarded to be misrouted, leading to loss or misdelivery of WiFi frames without any memory corruption or code execution. The effect is primarily a degradation of wireless service quality, potentially resulting in denial of connectivity for users.

All Linux kernel releases that include the mac80211 module and have not yet integrated the commit that removes the static keyword are affected. Impacted vendors are those that ship kernel packages containing the unpatched code; Red Hat advisories such as RHSA‑2026:26427, RHSA‑2026:26428, and others issue updated kernel packages that address the race.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 8.8, indicating high severity, but the EPSS score is below 1 % and it is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, implying a low likelihood of current exploitation. An attacker could trigger the race by transmitting specially crafted wireless frames to a system with an active WiFi interface, thereby abusing the race to disrupt network traffic.