Memory leak and use-after-free via SCO cancellation
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 18, 2026
Memory-management errors in Linux kernel Bluetooth allow attackers to leak memory or access freed connection state during SCO setup. hci_setup_sync() queues conn_handle_t without a destroy callback and retains a bare hci_conn pointer, so cancellation leaks the wrapper while queued work can outlive the connection. The trigger requires pending SCO setup work to be canceled, including when a Bluetooth controller is unregistered; no further security consequence has been published.
Summary
What happened
Memory-management errors in Linux kernel Bluetooth allow attackers to leak memory or access freed connection state during SCO setup. hci_setup_sync() queues conn_handle_t without a destroy callback and retains a bare hci_conn pointer, so cancellation leaks the wrapper while queued work can outlive the connection. The trigger requires pending SCO setup work to be canceled, including when a Bluetooth controller is unregistered; no further security consequence has been published.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90255
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 18, 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=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <37cfec41365c826d5496ef5d00c9e215eee53aa2
- Affected versionversion=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <42de40abe25db9211107af8896d0fd741f10648d
- Affected versionversion=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <4d7b1c834d2775b73c65e4888e01f5af8b477fe9
- Affected versionversion=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <9a2ba69cebe3fc5a3d4fa8eaaad3c42862723c27
- Affected versionversion=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <a661de0ee29d0915c5e924edf91d2be2b4d35bae
- Affected versionversion=e07a06b4eb417f5271d33ce2240e93c62d98b7b4 <c1fe3c74a89a7749cba3caa0dd91236049c66116
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
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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