Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5 hci_core hci_low_sent use after free

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.89

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. It has been classified as very critical. The impacted element is the function hci_low_sent of the component hci_core. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98734. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This affects the function hci_low_sent of the component hci_core. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98734 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 or 7.3-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 101825c09ad6b7daa6cf4c9e6b1720b13de15596/1681f97afdf92e8557f2f3118ddc898471b5d299/ecdb1c66d8e14e63731c52d6fbcfa604064913c4/848a7a91c7f03675d3bd8db6f7721cbf9cb50e21 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.112
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4
• 7.3-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.113/6.18.56/7.2.10/7.3-rc6
Patch: 101825c09ad6b7daa6cf4c9e6b1720b13de15596/1681f97afdf92e8557f2f3118ddc898471b5d299/ecdb1c66d8e14e63731c52d6fbcfa604064913c4/848a7a91c7f03675d3bd8db6f7721cbf9cb50e21

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98734 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98734
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-421923

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 19:17
Changes: 10/18/2026 19:17 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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