Kernel crash via unsynchronized TTY hangup
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
A race in Linux TTY port hangup allows attackers to crash the kernel through concurrent hangup and device teardown operations. Missing serialization in tty_port_tty_vhangup() and tty_port_hangup() lets teardown proceed before shutdown completes, leaving racing ioctls or asynchronous hangups accessing freed resources or NULL pointers. Triggering requires an affected TTY driver and overlapping hangup and deregistration activity, such as device disconnect; privilege escalation is not established.
Summary
What happened
A race in Linux TTY port hangup allows attackers to crash the kernel through concurrent hangup and device teardown operations. Missing serialization in tty_port_tty_vhangup() and tty_port_hangup() lets teardown proceed before shutdown completes, leaving racing ioctls or asynchronous hangups accessing freed resources or NULL pointers. Triggering requires an affected TTY driver and overlapping hangup and deregistration activity, such as device disconnect; privilege escalation is not established.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98752
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 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=2.6.31.2 <2.6.32
- Affected versionversion=2.6.32
- Affected versionversion=4260dc792fabfd20c8644fa9414b2ae48372365f
- Affected versionversion=7ca0ff9ab3218ec443a7a9ad247e4650373ed41e <017b18addbe8dcace1a569a00d40ed1ba1e03f4c
- Affected versionversion=7ca0ff9ab3218ec443a7a9ad247e4650373ed41e <6b7be3b9b857947e9c1338d4919d4ebd3b75e907
- Affected versionversion=7ca0ff9ab3218ec443a7a9ad247e4650373ed41e <6d1a984afc3ca477dab3e51ec806671d443ad524
- Affected versionversion=7ca0ff9ab3218ec443a7a9ad247e4650373ed41e <b48820de8c1a596c5b99775524dfce73c6576c5d
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- syzbot keyspan_close use-after-free reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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