# CVE-2023-53673: Bluetooth: hci_event: call disconnect callback before deleting conn

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 7 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-76422, BELL-CVE-2023-53673, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53673, GHSA-7v48-2x62-5ff3, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53673, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53673, SUSE-SU-2025:4237-1, SUSE-SU-2025:4242-1, SUSE-SU-2025:4281-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53673

## What is CVE-2023-53673?

CVE-2023-53673 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Bluetooth: hci_event: call disconnect callback before deleting conn

In hci_cs_disconnect, we do hci_conn_del even if disconnection failed.

ISO, L2CAP and SCO connections refer to the hci_conn without
hci_conn_get, so disconn_cfm must be called so they can clean up their
conn, otherwise use-after-free occurs.

ISO:
==========================================================
iso_sock_connect:880: sk 00000000eabd6557
iso_connect_cis:356: 70:1a:b8:98:ff:a2 -> 28:3d:c2:4a:7e:da
...
iso_conn_add:140: hcon 000000001696f1fd conn 00000000b6251073
hci_dev_put:1487: hci0 orig refcnt 17
__iso_chan_add:214: conn 00000000b6251073
iso_sock_clear_timer:117: sock 00000000eabd6557 state 3
...
hci_rx_work:4085: hci0 Event packet
hci_event_packet:7601: hci0: event 0x0f
hci_cmd_status_evt:4346: hci0: opcode 0x0406
hci_cs_disconnect:2760: hci0: status 0x0c
hci_sent_cmd_data:3107: hci0 opcode 0x0406
hci_conn_del:1151: hci0 hcon 000000001696f1fd handle 2560
hci_conn_unlink:1102: hci0: hcon 000000001696f1fd
hci_conn_drop:1451: hcon 00000000d8521aaf orig refcnt 2
hci_chan_list_flush:2780: hcon 000000001696f1fd
hci_dev_put:1487: hci0 orig refcnt 21
hci_dev_put:1487: hci0 orig refcnt 20
hci_req_cmd_complete:3978: opcode 0x0406 status 0x0c
... <no iso_* activity on sk/conn> ...
iso_sock_sendmsg:1098: sock 00000000dea5e2e0, sk 00000000eabd6557
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000668
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-1.fc38 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:iso_sock_sendmsg (net/bluetooth/iso.c:1112) bluetooth
==========================================================

L2CAP:
==================================================================
hci_cmd_status_evt:4359: hci0: opcode 0x0406
hci_cs_disconnect:2760: hci0: status 0x0c
hci_sent_cmd_data:3085: hci0 opcode 0x0406
hci_conn_del:1151: hci0 hcon ffff88800c999000 handle 3585
hci_conn_unlink:1102: hci0: hcon ffff88800c999000
hci_chan_list_flush:2780: hcon ffff88800c999000
hci_chan_del:2761: hci0 hcon ffff88800c999000 chan ffff888018ddd280
...
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in hci_send_acl+0x2d/0x540 [bluetooth]
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888018ddd298 by task bluetoothd/1175

CPU: 0 PID: 1175 Comm: bluetoothd Tainted: G            E      6.4.0-rc4+ #2
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-1.fc38 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x5b/0x90
 print_report+0xcf/0x670
 ? __virt_addr_valid+0xf8/0x180
 ? hci_send_acl+0x2d/0x540 [bluetooth]
 kasan_report+0xa8/0xe0
 ? hci_send_acl+0x2d/0x540 [bluetooth]
 hci_send_acl+0x2d/0x540 [bluetooth]
 ? __pfx___lock_acquire+0x10/0x10
 l2cap_chan_send+0x1fd/0x1300 [bluetooth]
 ? l2cap_sock_sendmsg+0xf2/0x170 [bluetooth]
 ? __pfx_l2cap_chan_send+0x10/0x10 [bluetooth]
 ? lock_release+0x1d5/0x3c0
 ? mark_held_locks+0x1a/0x90
 l2cap_sock_sendmsg+0x100/0x170 [bluetooth]
 sock_write_iter+0x275/0x280
 ? __pfx_sock_write_iter+0x10/0x10
 ? __pfx___lock_acquire+0x10/0x10
 do_iter_readv_writev+0x176/0x220
 ? __pfx_do_iter_readv_writev+0x10/0x10
 ? find_held_lock+0x83/0xa0
 ? selinux_file_permission+0x13e/0x210
 do_iter_write+0xda/0x340
 vfs_writev+0x1b4/0x400
 ? __pfx_vfs_writev+0x10/0x10
 ? __seccomp_filter+0x112/0x750
 ? populate_seccomp_data+0x182/0x220
 ? __fget_light+0xdf/0x100
 ? do_writev+0x19d/0x210
 do_writev+0x19d/0x210
 ? __pfx_do_writev+0x10/0x10
 ? mark_held_locks+0x1a/0x90
 do_syscall_64+0x60/0x90
 ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x149/0x210
 ? do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x90
 ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x149/0x210
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc
RIP: 0033:0x7ff45cb23e64
Code: 15 d1 1f 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b8 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 80 3d 9d a7 0d 00 00 74 13 b8 14 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 54 c3 0f 1f 00 48 83 ec 28 89 54 24 1c 48 89
RSP: 002b:00007fff21ae09b8 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000014
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53673?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_42` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | All versions | 8-150400.2.1 |
| `kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_43` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | All versions | 5-150400.2.1 |
| `kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_45` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | All versions | 2-150400.2.1 |

Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53673?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53673 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53673 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53673 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53673 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53673 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53673/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53673/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53673
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53673
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53673

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53673/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
