Bug 2555090 (CVE-2026-98736)

Summary: CVE-2026-98736 kernel: Bluetooth: hci_conn: Lock parent access during enhanced SCO setup
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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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Bluetooth subsystem. A race condition occurs during enhanced Synchronous Connection-Oriented (SCO) link setup due to missing locking when accessing parent connection structures. A local user or adjacent attacker could exploit this timing window by concurrently disconnecting the link, causing a use-after-free condition. This flaw could lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) via a system crash or potentially arbitrary code execution.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:53:50 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Bluetooth: hci_conn: Lock parent access during enhanced SCO setup

Bluetooth: hci_conn: Lock parent access during enhanced SCO setup

hci_enhanced_setup_sync() runs on the request workqueue without the
hci_dev_lock held by its caller when setup was queued. Its CVSD
capability check and find_next_esco_param() dereference conn->parent
while the receive workqueue can unlink and release that parent.

The following interleaving can cause a use-after-free:

  hci_enhanced_setup_sync()       hci_disconn_complete_evt()
  load conn->parent
                                 hci_dev_lock()
                                 hci_conn_del(ACL parent)
                                   unlink SCO child
                                   drop link's parent reference
                                   clear child->parent
                                   release ACL parent
                                     bt_link_release()
                                       kfree(parent)
                                 hci_dev_unlock()
  read parent->features[0][3]

The reference held for the queued SCO child does not keep its ACL parent
alive after unlinking. Commit 42de40abe25d ("Bluetooth: hci_conn: fix the
SCO setup context lifetime") protects the child stored in the queued
context, but leaves these parent accesses unprotected.

With a 40 ms diagnostic delay after loading conn->parent, an instrumented
kernel based on fd179f8a05be, which already contains 42de40abe25d,

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in hci_enhanced_setup_sync+0xda5/0xdf0
  Read of size 1 at addr ffff888102204047 by task kworker/u17:0/93
  Call Trace:
   hci_enhanced_setup_sync+0xda5/0xdf0
   hci_cmd_sync_work+0x13c/0x290
   process_one_work+0x6b4/0x10e0

  Allocated by task 92:
   __hci_conn_add+0x304/0x1df0
   hci_connect_acl+0x349/0x3e0
   hci_connect_sco+0x3b/0x9a0
   sco_sock_connect+0x475/0xca0

  Freed by task 94:
   kfree+0x121/0x3c0
   bt_link_release+0x79/0xa0
   device_release+0xc8/0x240
   kobject_put+0x14d/0x280
   hci_conn_del+0x524/0xe30
   hci_disconn_complete_evt+0x403/0x8c0
   hci_event_packet+0x71b/0xb20
   hci_rx_work+0x293/0x730

The accessed address is 71 bytes into the freed ACL parent, at its
features[0][3] byte; the queued SCO child is a different object. The
diagnostic preserves the loaded parent across the delay, matching the
unmodified compiled capability check, and does not change the parent
references or teardown path.

Hold hci_dev_lock() across the codec switch, including every call to
find_next_esco_param(), and release it on all selection errors. Keep
configure_datapath_sync() outside the critical section because it waits
for HCI events. Preserve parameter selection and existing return values.