# CVE-2026-98691: thunderbolt: Tear down inactive DP tunnels when the domain is stopped

> A use-after-free in the Linux kernel Thunderbolt driver allows local attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code by triggering a race condition during domain teardown.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 18 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-98691, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98691, GHSA-7w6x-49rw-4c9g, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98691

## What is CVE-2026-98691?

CVE-2026-98691 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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:

thunderbolt: Tear down inactive DP tunnels when the domain is stopped

tb_stop() only tears down DMA tunnels so a DP tunnel that is still
waiting for dprx_work to complete keeps that work queued while the
routers are removed and the control channel is stopped. The work only
stops once the DPRX timeout has passed and because it requeues itself
until then the flush_workqueue() in tb_domain_remove() won't wait for its
final run. The callback then runs against a domain that is already torn
down. A reference to that domain is kept so the completion waiting for
that domain to disappear in unbind will block until the timeout is
eventually reached.

Tear down DP tunnels that are not active yet as well which also cancels
that work. Tunnels for displays that are already alive are untouched and
keep working.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98691?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98691?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98691 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98691 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98691 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98691 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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-2026-98691 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-2026-98691/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98691/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98691
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98691
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98691

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98691/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.