Bug 2555226 (CVE-2026-98809)

Summary: CVE-2026-98809 kernel: Bluetooth: hci_sync: don't drain cmd_sync backlog on unregister
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 Bluetooth subsystem. When unregistering a Bluetooth device, pending synchronous commands are processed without reaching the controller, causing each queued request to wait for a full timeout. A local user can exploit this issue by queuing an unbounded number of commands, leading to prolonged task hangs and causing a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 16:03:08 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Bluetooth: hci_sync: don't drain cmd_sync backlog on unregister

hci_unregister_dev() disables cmd_work and cmd_timer, then calls
hci_cmd_sync_clear(), whose cancel_work_sync() waits for
hci_cmd_sync_work() to return. That worker dequeues and runs every
entry on cmd_sync_work_list. With cmd_work disabled nothing reaches
the controller, so each queued HCI command waits the full
HCI_CMD_TIMEOUT (2s).

The backlog has no bound. Userspace can keep queuing MGMT commands
such as MGMT_OP_GET_CLOCK_INFO against a controller that doesn't
answer. Closing /dev/vhci then blocks in vhci_release() for
backlog * 2s:

  INFO: task syz-executor:5749 blocked for more than 143 seconds.
   cancel_work_sync
   hci_cmd_sync_clear
   hci_unregister_dev
   vhci_release

In a local reproduction the backlog held more than 5000 entries,
which comes to hours of hang.

Stop the worker from taking new entries once HCI_UNREGISTER is set,
and wake any request still waiting with -ENODEV before cancelling
the work. The entries left over are destroyed with -ECANCELED by the
existing sweep in hci_cmd_sync_clear(). They stay on the list until
the work has stopped, so hci_cmd_sync_dequeue() and friends still see
them. A callback already running may still issue another command,
which delays unregister by at most one timeout per remaining command,
not by the whole backlog.