CVE-2026-19939 Bluetooth Classic AVDTP: stale timeout work on signalling-channel disconnect leads to kernel timeout-list corruption
Remote attackers can corrupt kernel timeout lists via Bluetooth AVDTP disconnects, potentially causing crashes or code execution in Zephyr RTOS.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-19939?
CVE-2026-19939 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in zephyrproject zephyr, published on 13 Oct 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The AVDTP signalling layer arms a 6-second command timeout (AVDTP_TIMEOUT) in avdtp_send_cmd() whenever the local device issues an AVDTP request. Every response handler in subsys/bluetooth/host/classic/avdtp.c cancels session->timeout_work before clearing the pending request, but bt_avdtp_l2cap_disconnected() only cleared session->req and left the delayable work armed. The struct bt_avdtp session is the first member of struct bt_a2dp, whose instances live in a static per-connection array, and a2dp_get_connection() in subsys/bluetooth/host/classic/a2dp.c wipes a slot with memset() as soon as session->br_chan.chan.conn is NULL — which the L2CAP layer arranges immediately after the disconnect callback returns.
A remote Bluetooth BR/EDR peer triggers the condition by opening the AVDTP signalling channel, letting the local application issue an AVDTP procedure (the standard A2DP flow issues bt_a2dp_discover() from the connected callback), then tearing the signalling channel down without responding and re-opening it within the remaining timeout window. The reconnect reaches a2dp_accept() → a2dp_get_connection(), which zeroes the whole struct bt_a2dp while the work item's struct _timeout is still linked into the kernel's global timeout list. Both the disconnect and the reconnect instants are chosen by the attacker, so no race has to be won; an encrypted BR/EDR link is required, and CONFIG_BT_A2DP (experimental) must be enabled.
With the default CONFIG_TIMEOUT_BACKEND_DLIST backend the kernel decides a timeout is inactive by testing whether its list node is linked, so after the memset() the kernel treats a node that is still on the global timeout list as free: the announce path pops a node whose links and handler pointer are NULL, and the next bt_work_reschedule() on the recycled session re-inserts the same node into a list that already contains it. The consequence is corruption of the single kernel data structure every timer, timeslice and sleep depends on — writes through zeroed or stale list pointers and a NULL handler dispatch — producing a system-wide crash or hang rather than a fault confined to the A2DP session.
The fix cancels session->timeout_work at the top of bt_avdtp_l2cap_disconnected() and moves k_work_init_delayable() from avdtp_send_cmd() to the session-establishment paths bt_avdtp_connect() and bt_avdtp_l2cap_accept(), so the work item is always initialized before a disconnect callback can run.
Weakness: CWE-825
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-19939?
How do I fix CVE-2026-19939?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-19939 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
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-2026-19939 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-19939 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-9mww-f3h4-mq95.