CVE-2025-39983 Bluetooth: hci_event: Fix UAF in hci_conn_tx_dequeue
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via crafted HCI events.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-39983?
CVE-2025-39983 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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: Fix UAF in hci_conn_tx_dequeue
This fixes the following UAF caused by not properly locking hdev when processing HCI_EV_NUM_COMP_PKTS:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in hci_conn_tx_dequeue+0x1be/0x220 net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c:3036 Read of size 4 at addr ffff8880740f0940 by task kworker/u11:0/54
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 54 Comm: kworker/u11:0 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc7 #3 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.10.2-1ubuntu1 04/01/2014 Workqueue: hci1 hci_rx_work Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xca/0x230 mm/kasan/report.c:480 kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:593 hci_conn_tx_dequeue+0x1be/0x220 net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c:3036 hci_num_comp_pkts_evt+0x1c8/0xa50 net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:4404 hci_event_func net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:7477 [inline] hci_event_packet+0x7e0/0x1200 net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:7531 hci_rx_work+0x46a/0xe80 net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:4070 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3238 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xae1/0x17b0 kernel/workqueue.c:3321 worker_thread+0x8a0/0xda0 kernel/workqueue.c:3402 kthread+0x70e/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:464 ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 home/kwqcheii/source/fuzzing/kernel/kasan/linux-6.16-rc7/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245 </TASK>
Allocated by task 54: 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] __hci_conn_add+0x233/0x1b30 net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c:939 le_conn_complete_evt+0x3d6/0x1220 net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:5628 hci_le_enh_conn_complete_evt+0x189/0x470 net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:5794 hci_event_func net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:7474 [inline] hci_event_packet+0x78c/0x1200 net/bluetooth/hci_event.c:7531 hci_rx_work+0x46a/0xe80 net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:4070 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3238 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xae1/0x17b0 kernel/workqueue.c:3321 worker_thread+0x8a0/0xda0 kernel/workqueue.c:3402 kthread+0x70e/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:464 ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 home/kwqcheii/source/fuzzing/kernel/kasan/linux-6.16-rc7/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
Freed by task 9572: 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:2381 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:4643 [inline] kfree+0x18e/0x440 mm/slub.c:4842 device_release+0x9c/0x1c0 kobject_cleanup lib/kobject.c:689 [inline] kobject_release lib/kobject.c:720 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:65 [inline] kobject_put+0x22b/0x480 lib/kobject.c:737 hci_conn_cleanup net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c:175 [inline] hci_conn_del+0x8ff/0xcb0 net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c:1173 hci_abort_conn_sync+0x5d1/0xdf0 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:5689 hci_cmd_sync_work+0x210/0x3a0 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:332 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3238 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xae1/0x17b0 kernel/workqueue.c:3321 worker_thread+0x8a0/0xda0 kernel/workqueue.c:3402 kthread+0x70e/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:464 ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 home/kwqcheii/source/fuzzing/kernel/kasan/linux-6.16-rc7/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39983?
How do I fix CVE-2025-39983?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2025-39983 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39983 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-39983, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39983, GHSA-q4fj-hr69-3p79, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39983.