CVE-2025-38250
Unknown
Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-07-09
Last updated on: 2026-03-25
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Bluetooth: hci_core: Fix use-after-free in vhci_flush()
syzbot reported use-after-free in vhci_flush() without repro. [0]
From the splat, a thread close()d a vhci file descriptor while
its device was being used by iotcl() on another thread.
Once the last fd refcnt is released, vhci_release() calls
hci_unregister_dev(), hci_free_dev(), and kfree() for struct
vhci_data, which is set to hci_dev->dev->driver_data.
The problem is that there is no synchronisation after unlinking
hdev from hci_dev_list in hci_unregister_dev(). There might be
another thread still accessing the hdev which was fetched before
the unlink operation.
We can use SRCU for such synchronisation.
Let's run hci_dev_reset() under SRCU and wait for its completion
in hci_unregister_dev().
Another option would be to restore hci_dev->destruct(), which was
removed in commit 587ae086f6e4 ("Bluetooth: Remove unused
hci-destruct cb"). However, this would not be a good solution, as
we should not run hci_unregister_dev() while there are in-flight
ioctl() requests, which could lead to another data-race KCSAN splat.
Note that other drivers seem to have the same problem, for exmaple,
virtbt_remove().
[0]:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in skb_queue_empty_lockless include/linux/skbuff.h:1891 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in skb_queue_purge_reason+0x99/0x360 net/core/skbuff.c:3937
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88807cb8d858 by task syz.1.219/6718
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 6718 Comm: syz.1.219 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1-syzkaller-00196-g08207f42d3ff #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025
Call Trace:
<TASK>
dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120
print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:408 [inline]
print_report+0xd2/0x2b0 mm/kasan/report.c:521
kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:634
skb_queue_empty_lockless include/linux/skbuff.h:1891 [inline]
skb_queue_purge_reason+0x99/0x360 net/core/skbuff.c:3937
skb_queue_purge include/linux/skbuff.h:3368 [inline]
vhci_flush+0x44/0x50 drivers/bluetooth/hci_vhci.c:69
hci_dev_do_reset net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:552 [inline]
hci_dev_reset+0x420/0x5c0 net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:592
sock_do_ioctl+0xd9/0x300 net/socket.c:1190
sock_ioctl+0x576/0x790 net/socket.c:1311
vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
__do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline]
__se_sys_ioctl+0xf9/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0xfa/0x3b0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fcf5b98e929
Code: ff ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 a8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007fcf5c7b9038 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fcf5bbb6160 RCX: 00007fcf5b98e929
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000400448cb RDI: 0000000000000009
RBP: 00007fcf5ba10b39 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 00007fcf5bbb6160 R15: 00007ffd6353d528
</TASK>
Allocated by task 6535:
kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline]
kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68
poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:377 [inline]
__kasan_kmalloc+0x93/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:394
kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:260 [inline]
__kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x230/0x3d0 mm/slub.c:4359
kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:905 [inline]
kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1039 [inline]
vhci_open+0x57/0x360 drivers/bluetooth/hci_vhci.c:635
misc_open+0x2bc/0x330 drivers/char/misc.c:161
chrdev_open+0x4c9/0x5e0 fs/char_dev.c:414
do_dentry_open+0xdf0/0x1970 fs/open.c:964
vfs_open+0x3b/0x340 fs/open.c:1094
do_open fs/namei.c:3887 [inline]
path_openat+0x2ee5/0x3830 fs/name
---truncated---
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-416 | The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a use-after-free bug in the Linux kernel's Bluetooth subsystem, specifically in the vhci_flush() function. It occurs when one thread closes a vhci file descriptor while another thread is still using the device via ioctl(). After the last reference to the file descriptor is released, the kernel frees the associated data structure without proper synchronization, which can lead to another thread accessing freed memory. The fix involves adding synchronization using SRCU to ensure no threads access the device after it has been unlinked and freed.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can lead to use-after-free conditions, which may cause system crashes, data corruption, or potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges by exploiting the race condition in the Bluetooth driver. It affects the stability and security of systems using the vulnerable Linux kernel Bluetooth implementation.
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