CVE-2026-46275

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: hci_uart: fix UAFs and race conditions in close and init paths Vulnerabilities leading to Use-After-Free (UAF) and Null Pointer Dereference (NPD) conditions were observed in the lifecycle management of hci_uart. The primary issue arises because the workqueues (init_ready and write_work) are only flushed/cancelled if the HCI_UART_PROTO_READY flag is set during TTY close. If a hangup occurs before setup completes, hci_uart_tty_close() skips the teardown of these workqueues and proceeds to free the `hu` struct. When the scheduled work executes later, it blindly dereferences the freed `hu` struct. Furthermore, several data races and UAFs were identified in the teardown sequence: 1. Calling hci_uart_flush() from hci_uart_close() without effectively disabling write_work causes a race condition where both can concurrently double-free hu->tx_skb. This happens because protocol timers can concurrently invoke hci_uart_tx_wakeup() and requeue write_work. 2. Calling hci_free_dev(hdev) before hu->proto->close(hu) causes a UAF when vendor specific protocol close callbacks dereference hu->hdev. 3. In the initialization error paths, failing to take the proto_lock write lock before clearing PROTO_READY leads to races with active readers. Additionally, hci_uart_tty_receive() accesses hu->hdev outside the read lock, leading to UAFs if the initialization error path frees hdev concurrently. Fix these synchronization and lifecycle issues by: 1. Re-ordering hci_uart_tty_close() to clear HCI_UART_PROTO_READY first, followed immediately by a cancel_work_sync(&hu->write_work). Clearing the flag locks out concurrent protocol timers from successfully invoking hci_uart_tx_wakeup(), effectively rendering the cancellation permanent and preventing the tx_skb double-free. 2. Note: Clearing PROTO_READY early causes hci_uart_close() to skip hu->proto->flush(). This is perfectly safe in the tty_close path because hu->proto->close() executes shortly after, which intrinsically purges all protocol SKB queues and tears down the state. 3. Relocating hu->proto->close(hu) strictly prior to hci_free_dev(hdev) across all close and error paths to prevent vendor-level UAFs. 4. Moving the hdev->stat.byte_rx increment in hci_uart_tty_receive() inside the proto_lock read-side critical section to safely synchronize with device unregistration. 5. Adding cancel_work_sync(&hu->write_work) to hci_uart_close() to safely flush the workqueue before hci_uart_flush() is invoked via the HCI core. 6. Utilizing cancel_work_sync() instead of disable_work_sync() across all paths to prevent permanently breaking user-space retry capabilities.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-06-08
Last modified 2026-06-08
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.14.203, 4.19.153, 5.4.73, 5.8.17, 5.9.2, 5.10 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.142, 6.12.92, 6.18.34, 7.0.11, 7.1-rc5 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 4.14.203 ≥ 4.19.153 ≥ 5.4.73 ≥ 5.8.17 ≥ 5.9.2 ≥ 5.10
Fixed in
✓ 5.10.258 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.209 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.175 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.142 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.92 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.34 6.18.x ✓ 7.0.11 7.0.x ✓ 7.1-rc5

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-46275 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-2026-46275?

    CVE-2026-46275 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.14.203 onward and has been patched in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. CVE-2026-46275 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46275?

    Yes — CVE-2026-46275 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.14.203 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2026-46275 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2026-46275 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.