# CVE-2026-98109: Bluetooth: hci_core: Fix race condition during device registration

> A race condition in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service during device registration.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 25 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-104412, BELL-CVE-2026-98109, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98109, GHSA-2gv9-7823-fxfm, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98109

## What is CVE-2026-98109?

CVE-2026-98109 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Sep 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_core: Fix race condition during device registration

In hci_register_dev(), the power_on work item is queued to
hdev->req_workqueue before initializing hdev->adv_monitors_idr and
registering the MSFT extension via msft_register(). For devices marked with
quirks such as HCI_QUIRK_RAW_DEVICE, the HCI_UNCONFIGURED flag is set on
the device. When the power_on work item runs concurrently on another CPU,
hci_power_on() detects that the device is unconfigured and immediately
invokes hci_dev_do_close(), which calls msft_do_close().

Concurrently, msft_register() allocates the msft structure and exposes it
to hdev->msft_data prior to calling mutex_init(&msft->filter_lock). If
msft_do_close() executes while hdev->msft_data is already assigned but the
mutex has not yet been initialized, mutex_lock(&msft->filter_lock) operates
on an uninitialized mutex, triggering a DEBUG_LOCKS warning:

DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(lock->magic != lock)
WARNING: kernel/locking/mutex.c:625 at __mutex_lock_common
kernel/locking/mutex.c:625 [inline]
WARNING: kernel/locking/mutex.c:625 at __mutex_lock+0x12d8/0x1550
kernel/locking/mutex.c:821
...
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 msft_do_close+0x308/0x7b0 net/bluetooth/msft.c:693
 hci_dev_close_sync+0x86b/0x10a0 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:5522
 hci_dev_do_close net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:499 [inline]
 hci_power_on+0x32c/0x750 net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:937
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3322 [inline]
 process_scheduled_works+0xa8e/0x14e0 kernel/workqueue.c:3405
 worker_thread+0x92d/0xe10 kernel/workqueue.c:3486
 kthread+0x388/0x470 kernel/kthread.c:436
 ret_from_fork+0x514/0xb70 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>

Fix this by moving the queue_work() call in hci_register_dev() to after
idr_init(&hdev->adv_monitors_idr) and msft_register(hdev) so that device
structures and extensions are fully initialized before asynchronous tasks
can access them. Additionally, assign hdev->msft_data in msft_register()
only after mutex_init(&msft->filter_lock) has completed.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98109?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-98109?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98109 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98109 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-2026-98109 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98109 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Sep 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-2026-98109 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-2026-98109/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98109/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98109
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98109
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98109

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98109/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.