# CVE-2025-38118: Bluetooth: MGMT: Fix UAF on mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel Bluetooth management subsystem allows attackers to cause crashes or potentially execute code.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64502, AZL-72719, BELL-CVE-2025-38118, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38118, GHSA-qm7w-jhfm-4433, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38118, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38118, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38118, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38118

## What is CVE-2025-38118?

CVE-2025-38118 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 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: MGMT: Fix UAF on mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete

This reworks MGMT_OP_REMOVE_ADV_MONITOR to not use mgmt_pending_add to
avoid crashes like bellow:

==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete+0xe5/0x540 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5406
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88801c53f318 by task kworker/u5:5/5341

CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5341 Comm: kworker/u5:5 Not tainted 6.15.0-syzkaller-10402-g4cb6c8af8591 #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014
Workqueue: hci0 hci_cmd_sync_work
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
 mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete+0xe5/0x540 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5406
 hci_cmd_sync_work+0x261/0x3a0 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:334
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3238 [inline]
 process_scheduled_works+0xade/0x17b0 kernel/workqueue.c:3321
 worker_thread+0x8a0/0xda0 kernel/workqueue.c:3402
 kthread+0x711/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:464
 ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>

Allocated by task 5987:
 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:4358
 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:905 [inline]
 kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1039 [inline]
 mgmt_pending_new+0x65/0x240 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:252
 mgmt_pending_add+0x34/0x120 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:279
 remove_adv_monitor+0x103/0x1b0 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5454
 hci_mgmt_cmd+0x9c9/0xef0 net/bluetooth/hci_sock.c:1719
 hci_sock_sendmsg+0x6ca/0xef0 net/bluetooth/hci_sock.c:1839
 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:712 [inline]
 __sock_sendmsg+0x219/0x270 net/socket.c:727
 sock_write_iter+0x258/0x330 net/socket.c:1131
 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline]
 vfs_write+0x548/0xa90 fs/read_write.c:686
 ksys_write+0x145/0x250 fs/read_write.c:738
 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

Freed by task 5989:
 kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline]
 kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68
 kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:576
 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:247 [inline]
 __kasan_slab_free+0x62/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:264
 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:233 [inline]
 slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2380 [inline]
 slab_free mm/slub.c:4642 [inline]
 kfree+0x18e/0x440 mm/slub.c:4841
 mgmt_pending_foreach+0xc9/0x120 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:242
 mgmt_index_removed+0x10d/0x2f0 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:9366
 hci_sock_bind+0xbe9/0x1000 net/bluetooth/hci_sock.c:1314
 __sys_bind_socket net/socket.c:1810 [inline]
 __sys_bind+0x2c3/0x3e0 net/socket.c:1841
 __do_sys_bind net/socket.c:1846 [inline]
 __se_sys_bind net/socket.c:1844 [inline]
 __x64_sys_bind+0x7a/0x90 net/socket.c:1844
 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

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38118?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38118?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38118 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38118 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38118 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38118 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 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-2025-38118 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2025-38118/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38118/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38118
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38118
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38118

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38118/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.