# 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.

- **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:** 15 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-39983, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39983, GHSA-q4fj-hr69-3p79, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39983

## 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.

## Is CVE-2025-39983 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39983 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-39983 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39983 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: 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-2025-39983/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39983/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39983
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39983
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39983

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39983/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.