CVE-2026-98696Hinoki check available

Memory corruption via premature USB serial unbinding

Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026

Use-after-free in Linux USB serial teardown allows attackers to cause kernel memory corruption during driver module unloading. The usb_serial_deregister_drivers function unbinds serial ports before stopping USB I/O, leaving completion handlers accessing freed port data. The condition requires module unloading while port I/O is active; the published record does not establish attacker privileges or further impact.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Oct 19, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Get started

Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in Linux USB serial teardown allows attackers to cause kernel memory corruption during driver module unloading. The usb_serial_deregister_drivers function unbinds serial ports before stopping USB I/O, leaving completion handlers accessing freed port data. The condition requires module unloading while port I/O is active; the published record does not establish attacker privileges or further impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-98696
Published
Oct 18, 2026
Updated
Oct 18, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 18, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.4
  2. Affected versionversion=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <428d479a0d31460fbf5969ab262ccd673f1fac01
  3. Affected versionversion=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <646e5b28b4fdbc1b828a2398d6ced2c1dd308a46
  4. Affected versionversion=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <9b085a06a0a411b0bcdf18b61c3ebf1be1c72ffe
  5. Affected versionversion=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <a1aa474768f69ea3a70da523f00f74c264cfa10e

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=3.4; version=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <428d479a0d31460fbf5969ab262ccd673f1fac01; version=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <646e5b28b4fdbc1b828a2398d6ced2c1dd308a46; version=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <9b085a06a0a411b0bcdf18b61c3ebf1be1c72ffe; version=765e0ba62613fb90f09c1b5926750df0aa56f349 <a1aa474768f69ea3a70da523f00f74c264cfa10e

Published CVSS scores

No CVSS assessment is available in this record.

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 22, 2026Sep 28, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 28, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
VectorUnavailable
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Get started