# CVE-2026-46186: Bluetooth: virtio_bt: validate rx pkt_type header length

> A missing length check in the Linux kernel's virtio Bluetooth driver allows a malicious backend to trigger a null pointer dereference, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 28 May 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88989, BELL-CVE-2026-46186, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46186, GHSA-6g4j-4jrg-pgpx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46186, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-46186, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46186, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46186

## What is CVE-2026-46186?

CVE-2026-46186 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 May 2026. 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: virtio_bt: validate rx pkt_type header length

virtbt_rx_handle() reads the leading pkt_type byte from the RX skb
and forwards the remainder to hci_recv_frame() for every
event/ACL/SCO/ISO type, without checking that the remaining payload
is at least the fixed HCI header for that type.

After the preceding patch bounds the backend-supplied used.len to
[1, VIRTBT_RX_BUF_SIZE], a one-byte completion still reaches
hci_recv_frame() with skb->len already pulled to 0. If the byte
happened to be HCI_ACLDATA_PKT, the ACL-vs-ISO classification
fast-path in hci_dev_classify_pkt_type() dereferences
hci_acl_hdr(skb)->handle whenever the HCI device has an active
CIS_LINK, BIS_LINK, or PA_LINK connection, reading two bytes of
uninitialized RX-buffer data. The same hazard exists for every
packet type the driver accepts because none of the switch cases in
virtbt_rx_handle() check skb->len against the per-type minimum HCI
header size before handing the frame to the core.

After stripping pkt_type, require skb->len to cover the fixed
header size for the selected type (event 2, ACL 4, SCO 3, ISO 4)
before calling hci_recv_frame(); drop ratelimited otherwise.
Unknown pkt_type values still take the original kfree_skb() default
path.

Use bt_dev_err_ratelimited() because both the length and pkt_type
values come from an untrusted backend that can otherwise flood the
kernel log.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46186?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46186?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46186 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46186 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-2026-46186 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46186 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 May 2026. 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-2026-46186 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-2026-46186/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46186/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46186
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46186
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46186

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46186/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.