CVE-2026-98772 USB: serial: fix port tear down use-after-free
A race condition in Linux kernel USB serial drivers allows attackers to trigger a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-98772?
CVE-2026-98772 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:
USB: serial: fix port tear down use-after-free
Some drivers for multiport devices access port driver data from completion handlers of shared URBs submitted at attach() or first open() and stopped at disconnect() or last close(), respectively.
A simple NULL check before accessing the driver data makes sure that a port state container has at least been allocated, but a completion handler can still race with port tear down.
Reorder the disconnect handling so that ports are not deregistered (and their driver data freed) until after all ports have been hung up and the driver disconnect() callback has run so that all I/O has been stopped.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98772?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98772?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-98772 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98772 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-108776, BELL-CVE-2026-98772, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98772, GHSA-39q3-pw49-mrvf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98772.