Bug 2540171 (CVE-2026-93209)

Summary: CVE-2026-93209 kernel: Bluetooth: hci_core: use skb_get() instead of skb_clone() for req_skb
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Bluetooth subsystem. Under conditions of memory pressure, a function responsible for handling Bluetooth commands can fail to properly track command completion. This can lead to intermittent failures when enabling Bluetooth, resulting in a denial of service where Bluetooth functionality becomes unavailable to a local user.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-24 15:21:18 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Bluetooth: hci_core: use skb_get() instead of skb_clone() for req_skb

BT enable fails intermittently with -ETIMEDOUT (-110).  The kernel log
shows the HCI Read Local Version command was sent and the firmware
replied with status 0x00 (logged by hci_req_cmd_complete() BT_DBG),
but the waiter in __hci_cmd_sync_sk() never woke up and timed out
after 10 s:

  bluetooth hci0: Opcode 0xfc00              // __hci_cmd_sync_sk
  bluetooth hci0: opcode 0xfc00 plen 1       // hci_cmd_sync_add
  bluetooth hci0: skb len 4                  // hci_cmd_sync_alloc
  bluetooth hci0: length 1                   // hci_req_sync_run
  Bluetooth: hci0 cmd_cnt 1 cmd queued 1     // hci_cmd_work
  Bluetooth: hci0 type 1 len 4               // hci_send_frame
  Bluetooth: opcode 0xfc00 status 0x00       // hci_req_cmd_complete
  <-- req_skb NULL: req_complete_skb not set,
      hci_cmd_sync_complete() never called,
      req_status stays HCI_REQ_PEND            -->
  <-- 10 s later: wait_event_interruptible_timeout expires -->
  bluetooth hci0: end: err -110              // __hci_cmd_sync_sk

The root cause is that hci_send_cmd_sync() clones the sent command
into hdev->req_skb so that hci_req_cmd_complete() can locate the
registered completion callback.  Under memory pressure this
skb_clone() fails, leaving hdev->req_skb NULL.  The firmware reply
is received and processed, but hci_req_cmd_complete() finds NULL
req_skb, so hci_cmd_sync_complete() is never called, req_status
stays HCI_REQ_PEND, and the waiter times out with -ETIMEDOUT.

req_skb is only used to read bt_cb(skb)->hci callbacks and opcode --
it is never modified.  Replace skb_clone() with skb_get(), which
simply increments the reference count of hdev->sent_cmd without
allocating new memory and therefore cannot fail.

This issue was first observed as a use-after-free in ttyport_close()
when ttyport_open() failed, which was investigated in an earlier
patch series [1].  That investigation led to the discovery of the
true root cause described above.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250430111617.1151390-1-quic_cxin@quicinc.com/