Linux Kernel up to 6.16.9 Bluetooth mgmt_pending use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.16.9. Affected by this vulnerability is the function mgmt_pending of the component Bluetooth. Executing a manipulation can lead to use after free. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-39981. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.16.9. This vulnerability affects the function mgmt_pending of the component Bluetooth. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: MGMT: Fix possible UAFs This attemps to fix possible UAFs caused by struct mgmt_pending being freed while still being processed like in the following trace, in order to fix mgmt_pending_valid is introduce and use to check if the mgmt_pending hasn't been removed from the pending list, on the complete callbacks it is used to check and in addtion remove the cmd from the list while holding mgmt_pending_lock to avoid TOCTOU problems since if the cmd is left on the list it can still be accessed and freed. BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mgmt_add_adv_patterns_monitor_sync+0x35/0x50 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5223 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8880709d4dc0 by task kworker/u11:0/55 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 55 Comm: kworker/u11:0 Not tainted 6.16.4 #2 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.10.2-1ubuntu1 04/01/2014 Workqueue: hci0 hci_cmd_sync_work Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xca/0x240 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 mgmt_add_adv_patterns_monitor_sync+0x35/0x50 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5223 hci_cmd_sync_work+0x210/0x3a0 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:332 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3238 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0xade/0x17b0 kernel/workqueue.c:3321 worker_thread+0x8a0/0xda0 kernel/workqueue.c:3402 kthread+0x711/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:464 ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 home/kwqcheii/source/fuzzing/kernel/kasan/linux-6.16.4/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245 </TASK> Allocated by task 12210: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:377 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0x93/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:394 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:260 [inline] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x230/0x3d0 mm/slub.c:4364 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:905 [inline] kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1039 [inline] mgmt_pending_new+0x65/0x1e0 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:269 mgmt_pending_add+0x35/0x140 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:296 __add_adv_patterns_monitor+0x130/0x200 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5247 add_adv_patterns_monitor+0x214/0x360 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:5364 hci_mgmt_cmd+0x9c9/0xef0 net/bluetooth/hci_sock.c:1719 hci_sock_sendmsg+0x6ca/0xef0 net/bluetooth/hci_sock.c:1839 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] __sock_sendmsg+0x219/0x270 net/socket.c:729 sock_write_iter+0x258/0x330 net/socket.c:1133 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline] vfs_write+0x5c9/0xb30 fs/read_write.c:686 ksys_write+0x145/0x250 fs/read_write.c:738 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xfa/0x3b0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 12221: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:47 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:68 kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:576 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:247 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x62/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:264 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:233 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2381 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:4648 [inline] kfree+0x18e/0x440 mm/slub.c:4847 mgmt_pending_free net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:311 [inline] mgmt_pending_foreach+0x30d/0x380 net/bluetooth/mgmt_util.c:257 __mgmt_power_off+0x169/0x350 net/bluetooth/mgmt.c:9444 hci_dev_close_sync+0x754/0x1330 net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c:5290 hci_dev_do_close net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:501 [inline] hci_dev_close+0x108/0x200 net/bluetooth/hci_core.c:526 sock_do_ioctl+0xd9/0x300 net/socket.c:1192 sock_ioctl+0x576/0x790 net/socket.c:1313 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xf9/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf ---truncated---

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-39981 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 02/08/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271563 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-39981), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.16.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 87a1f16f07c6c43771754075e08f45b41d237421/302a1f674c00dd5581ab8e493ef44767c5101aab is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (271563) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2298). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• Dell NetWorker

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.16.0
• 6.16.1
• 6.16.2
• 6.16.3
• 6.16.4
• 6.16.5
• 6.16.6
• 6.16.7
• 6.16.8
• 6.16.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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