CVE-2026-46186

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: virtio_bt: validate rx pkt_type header length virtbt_rx_handle() reads the leading pkt_type byte from the RX skb and forwards the remainder to hci_recv_frame() for every event/ACL/SCO/ISO type, without checking that the remaining payload is at least the fixed HCI header for that type. After the preceding patch bounds the backend-supplied used.len to [1, VIRTBT_RX_BUF_SIZE], a one-byte completion still reaches hci_recv_frame() with skb->len already pulled to 0. If the byte happened to be HCI_ACLDATA_PKT, the ACL-vs-ISO classification fast-path in hci_dev_classify_pkt_type() dereferences hci_acl_hdr(skb)->handle whenever the HCI device has an active CIS_LINK, BIS_LINK, or PA_LINK connection, reading two bytes of uninitialized RX-buffer data. The same hazard exists for every packet type the driver accepts because none of the switch cases in virtbt_rx_handle() check skb->len against the per-type minimum HCI header size before handing the frame to the core. After stripping pkt_type, require skb->len to cover the fixed header size for the selected type (event 2, ACL 4, SCO 3, ISO 4) before calling hci_recv_frame(); drop ratelimited otherwise. Unknown pkt_type values still take the original kfree_skb() default path. Use bt_dev_err_ratelimited() because both the length and pkt_type values come from an untrusted backend that can otherwise flood the kernel log.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-05-28
Last modified 2026-06-01
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.15.78, 6.0.8, 6.1 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140, 6.12.88, 6.18.30, 7.0.7, 7.1-rc3 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 5.15.78 ≥ 6.0.8 ≥ 6.1
Fixed in
✓ 5.15.209 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.175 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.140 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.88 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.30 6.18.x ✓ 7.0.7 7.0.x ✓ 7.1-rc3

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-46186 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2026-46186?

    CVE-2026-46186 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.15.78 onward and has been patched in 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140 and others. CVE-2026-46186 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46186?

    Yes — CVE-2026-46186 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.15.78 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2026-46186 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2026-46186 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.