Bug 2554913 (CVE-2026-98581)

Summary: CVE-2026-98581 kernel: nfc: llcp: Fix list corruption / refcount desync in nfc_llcp_recv_dm()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
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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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Near Field Communication (NFC) Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) implementation. When handling specific disconnection packets, the kernel fails to properly lock and unlink sockets before updating their state, leading to internal socket list corruption. A local user can exploit this flaw through concurrent socket operations to continuously leak kernel memory, ultimately causing system resource exhaustion and a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:31:56 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfc: llcp: Fix list corruption / refcount desync in nfc_llcp_recv_dm()

nfc_llcp_recv_dm() handles DM(NOBOUND)/DM(REJ) for a socket that is still
linked on local->connecting_sockets: it looks the socket up with
nfc_llcp_connecting_sock_get(), sets sk->sk_state = LLCP_CLOSED and
returns, without taking the socket lock and without unlinking the socket
from the connecting_sockets list.

llcp_sock_release() selects the list to unlink from by sk_state: a socket
in LLCP_CONNECTING is unlinked from connecting_sockets, otherwise from the
sockets list.  Because recv_dm left the socket physically on
connecting_sockets but in the LLCP_CLOSED state, release() takes the else
branch and calls nfc_llcp_sock_unlink(&local->sockets, sk).  That runs
sk_del_node_init() while holding sockets.lock, i.e. it removes the socket
from the connecting_sockets hlist under the wrong lock.  A concurrent
connect() linking another socket onto connecting_sockets under
connecting_sockets.lock then mutates the same hlist unserialized, which
corrupts the list and desyncs the sk_add_node()/sk_del_node_init()
sock_hold()/__sock_put() pairing.  An unprivileged local process holding
LLCP sockets, with the DM supplied by the remote peer over an established
LLCP link, can drive this to leak kernel sockets without bound (the
mis-decrement goes through the non-freeing __sock_put() path, so the
object is never released), leading to memory exhaustion / DoS.

This is the same class of bug that was fixed in the sibling handler
nfc_llcp_recv_cc() by commit b493ea2765cc ("nfc: llcp: Fix use-after-free
race in nfc_llcp_recv_cc()"); recv_dm did not receive the equivalent fix.

Fix it the same way: take lock_sock(), re-check that the socket is still
hashed (release() may have won the race), and for the NOBOUND/REJ case
unlink it from connecting_sockets before moving it to LLCP_CLOSED.  The
unlink drops the connecting_sockets membership reference via
sk_del_node_init(), leaving the socket unhashed, so the later
nfc_llcp_sock_unlink() in llcp_sock_release() becomes a no-op and no
double put occurs.