# CVE-2026-80683: Bluetooth: SCO: give the socket its own sco_conn reference

> A race condition in the Linux kernel Bluetooth SCO subsystem causes a use-after-free, potentially allowing local attackers to execute code or crash the system.

- **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:** 28 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-80683, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80683, GHSA-pwm9-r6v6-m8hc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80683

## What is CVE-2026-80683?

CVE-2026-80683 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 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: SCO: give the socket its own sco_conn reference

sco_conn_del() drops a reference it does not own. It takes one transient
reference via sco_conn_hold_unless_zero() and releases it with the
sco_conn_put() that follows sco_sock_hold(); the additional put in the
!sk branch releases a second one:

    conn = sco_conn_hold_unless_zero(conn);
    ...
    sk = sco_sock_hold(conn);
    sco_conn_unlock(conn);
    sco_conn_put(conn);

    if (!sk) {
            sco_conn_put(conn);
            return;
    }

When close() races the controller's Disconnection Complete, sco_chan_del()
clears conn->sk and drops the socket's reference while sco_conn_del() is
running. sco_conn_del() then sees sk == NULL, its own put drops the count
to zero and frees the conn, and the second put writes to the freed kref:

    BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sco_conn_put.part.0+0x1a/0x190
    Write of size 4 at addr ffff8881099dec74 by task kworker/u17:3/413
    Workqueue: hci1 hci_rx_work
    Call Trace:
     sco_conn_put.part.0+0x1a/0x190
     hci_disconn_complete_evt+0x1ee/0x3e0
     hci_event_packet+0x54a/0x650
     hci_rx_work+0x321/0x3d0
    Allocated by task 413:
     sco_conn_add+0x72/0x1a0
     sco_connect_cfm+0x88/0x670
    Freed by task 413:
     sco_conn_del.isra.0+0x3f/0xf0
     hci_disconn_complete_evt+0x1ee/0x3e0
    refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.

The root cause is that the socket stores the connection without holding a
reference of its own. __sco_chan_add() does:

    sco_pi(sk)->conn = conn;

so the socket borrows whatever reference its caller happened to hold, and
the callers paper over that with ad-hoc holds and puts. Give the socket a
counted reference instead: __sco_chan_add() takes one and it is released
together with the channel (sco_chan_del()) and in sco_sock_destruct().
With the socket holding its own reference, sco_conn_del() no longer needs
the extra put and the redundant hold in sco_conn_ready() goes away.

Making the socket own its reference means the connection is now actually
freed on the error paths of sco_connect() where it used to leak, which in
turn runs sco_conn_free() and its hci_conn_drop(conn->hcon). To keep the
hci_conn accounting balanced, make that ownership explicit as well:
sco_conn_add() consumes one hci_conn reference and the sco_conn owns it for
its lifetime. sco_connect() hands over the reference returned by
hci_connect_sco() and no longer drops it on the error paths;
sco_connect_cfm(), which is not given a reference, takes one with
hci_conn_hold() before handing it to sco_conn_add() (and drops it again if
the allocation fails); and the explicit hci_conn_hold() in sco_conn_ready()
is removed. Every reference then has a single, clear owner.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80683?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80683?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80683 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80683 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80683 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80683 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 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-2026-80683 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-2026-80683/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80683/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80683
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80683
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80683

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80683/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.