Memory leakage via advertising-timeout cleanup omissions
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Memory leakage in Linux Bluetooth hci_sync allows local users to consume kernel memory via failed or canceled advertising-timeout work. adv_timeout_expire() queues an allocated instance byte without a destroy callback and ignores queue failure, leaving the allocation unreleased on failure or cancellation. Exposure requires Bluetooth advertising activity and queue failure or cancellation, including controller unregistration; a deterministic crash or hang is not documented.
Summary
What happened
Memory leakage in Linux Bluetooth hci_sync allows local users to consume kernel memory via failed or canceled advertising-timeout work. adv_timeout_expire() queues an allocated instance byte without a destroy callback and ignores queue failure, leaving the allocation unreleased on failure or cancellation. Exposure requires Bluetooth advertising activity and queue failure or cancellation, including controller unregistration; a deterministic crash or hang is not documented.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90254
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-772, T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.1
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <120d8dc042e3d45073bb6e50ee7b058a0b182627
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <193182c6467f508a8a61d5db506d796ffed6eee6
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <2e3d827cd56865c14f6ca118bbccd7801091fb21
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <9c3b6c1413bd0b4993642d987616331f84d9b7f5
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <bb5ca1cc7744c41c59002bd6523714a685ae6595
- Affected versionversion=c249ea9b4309cf3250c5bbb42a05d38d0ed9071c <c2019224a766245b7db39d87fdfe84c3fdc879d9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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