# CVE-2026-98734: Bluetooth: hci_core: Serialize SCO and ISO scheduling with teardown

> A use-after-free in the Linux kernel Bluetooth subsystem allows local attackers to execute code or cause a denial of service via race conditions during connection teardown.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 18 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-109143, BELL-CVE-2026-98734, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98734, GHSA-4q25-9c2v-7w4q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98734

## What is CVE-2026-98734?

CVE-2026-98734 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:

Bluetooth: hci_core: Serialize SCO and ISO scheduling with teardown

hci_low_sent() selects a connection under RCU but drops the read lock
before calculating its quota and returning it to the scheduler. The
connection is then used without lifetime protection by hci_sched_iso()
and hci_sched_sco().

After the TX worker drops the RCU read lock, hci_abort_conn_sync() on
hdev->req_workqueue can remove the connection from the hash, complete
synchronize_rcu(), purge its queues and release it. The TX worker on
hdev->workqueue can then access the freed connection in hci_quote_sent()
or while dequeuing packets and updating conn->sent.

KASAN reported:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in hci_low_sent+0x730/0x840
  Workqueue: hci0 hci_tx_work
  Call Trace:
   hci_low_sent+0x730/0x840
   hci_sched_iso+0x25e/0x4d0
   hci_tx_work+0x239/0xcb0

  Allocated by task 93:
   __hci_conn_add+0x16f/0x1b40
   hci_bind_bis+0x782/0x17b0
   hci_connect_bis+0xa0/0x510
   iso_sock_connect+0x589/0x1050

  Freed by task 88:
   kfree+0x131/0x3c0
   device_release+0xc8/0x240
   kobject_put+0x14d/0x280
   hci_conn_del+0x55a/0xe80
   hci_disconnect_sync+0x156/0x180
   hci_abort_conn_sync+0x3e7/0x940
   hci_cmd_sync_work+0x13c/0x290

Hold hci_dev_lock() across connection selection and transmission in both
SCO and ISO scheduling, serializing them with connection teardown. This
also prevents queuing completion timestamps after the connection queues
have been purged. Extending RCU across transmission would be unsafe
because the transmit path can sleep. Keep the ISO timeout check outside
the mutex since hci_link_tx_to() takes it itself.

The preceding channel fix already holds this mutex in the ACL and LE
schedulers, which call the SCO scheduler between packets. Move the SCO
body to __hci_sched_sco(), assert that its caller holds the mutex, and
use it directly from these locked paths. Keep a locking hci_sched_sco()
wrapper for the direct calls from hci_tx_work(). This avoids recursively
acquiring the device mutex while preserving the scheduling order.

Remove the obsolete claim that connection removal disables TX.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98734?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98734?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98734 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98734 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98734 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98734 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-2026-98734 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-2026-98734/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98734/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98734
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98734
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98734

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98734/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.