# CVE-2026-68189: Bluetooth: hci_sync: Protect UUID list traversal

> A race condition in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or system crash.

- **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:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-68189, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68189, GHSA-jprq-4ghp-p3f9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68189

## What is CVE-2026-68189?

CVE-2026-68189 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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: hci_sync: Protect UUID list traversal

The hci_sync conversion moved class-of-device and EIR generation from an
HCI request built under hdev->lock to asynchronous command sync work.
The worker holds hdev->req_lock, but that lock does not serialize access
to hdev->uuids against add_uuid() and remove_uuid(), which update the
list under hdev->lock.

The following interleaving can therefore occur:

  CPU0 (command sync work)       CPU1 (management socket)
  fetch uuid from the list
                                list_del(&uuid->list)
                                kfree(uuid)
  read uuid->size

KASAN reports the resulting use-after-free:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in eir_create+0xb8f/0xee0
  Read of size 1 at addr ffff88810dbd8620 by task kworker/u17:0/87
  Workqueue: hci0 hci_cmd_sync_work
  Call Trace:
   eir_create+0xb8f/0xee0
   hci_update_eir_sync+0x1c0/0x330
   hci_cmd_sync_work+0x13c/0x290
   process_one_work+0x63a/0x1070
   worker_thread+0x45b/0xd10

  Allocated by task 86:
   __kasan_kmalloc+0x8f/0xa0
   add_uuid+0x18a/0x4b0
   hci_sock_sendmsg+0x1033/0x1ea0

  Freed by task 92:
   __kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70
   kfree+0x131/0x3c0
   remove_uuid+0x25e/0x560
   hci_sock_sendmsg+0x1033/0x1ea0

Hold hdev->lock while generating and committing the class-of-device and
EIR snapshots.  Release it before sending an HCI command, so controller
waits do not happen under the device lock.  This protects all UUID list
walks in these paths and restores the serialization lost in the command
sync conversion.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68189?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-68189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-68189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68189 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-68189 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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-2026-68189 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-2026-68189/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68189/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68189
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68189
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68189

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68189/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.