published August 15, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Bluetooth: 6lowpan: hold L2CAP conn across debugfs control
get_l2cap_conn() looks up an LE hci_conn under hdev protection, but
then drops that protection before reading hcon->l2cap_data and before
lowpan_control_write() later dereferences conn->hcon. A disconnect or
device close can tear down the same L2CAP connection in that window.
The buggy scenario involves two paths, with each column showing the order
within that path:
6LoWPAN control write: HCI disconnect/device close:
1. get_l2cap_conn() finds hcon 1. hci_disconn_cfm() dispatches
and hcon->l2cap_data. the L2CAP disconnect callback.
2. get_l2cap_conn() drops hdev 2. l2cap_conn_del() clears
protection and returns conn. hcon->l2cap_data and drops the
L2CAP connection reference.
3. lowpan_control_write() reads 3. hci_conn_del() removes and drops
conn->hcon. the HCI connection.
Take a reference to the L2CAP connection with
l2cap_conn_hold_unless_zero() while hdev is still locked, and drop that
reference after the debugfs command's last use of conn. This mirrors the
existing L2CAP ACL receive-side handoff and keeps the connection
dereferenceable after leaving hdev protection. Export the existing helper
so the bluetooth_6lowpan module can use the same lifetime primitive.
Validation reproduced this kernel report:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in lowpan_control_write+0x374/0x520
The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888111b9d000 which belongs
to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024
The buggy address is located 0 bytes inside of freed 1024-byte region
[ffff888111b9d000, ffff888111b9d400)
Read of size 8
Call trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0x66/0xa0
print_report+0xce/0x5f0
lowpan_control_write+0x374/0x520 (net/bluetooth/6lowpan.c:1131)
srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5
__virt_addr_valid+0x19f/0x330
kasan_report+0xe0/0x110
__debugfs_file_get+0xf7/0x400
full_proxy_write+0x9e/0xd0
vfs_write+0x1b0/0x810
ksys_write+0xd2/0x170
dnotify_flush+0x32/0x220
do_syscall_64+0x115/0x6a0 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:87)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Allocated by task stack:
kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60
kasan_save_track+0x17/0x60
__kasan_kmalloc+0xaa/0xb0
l2cap_conn_add+0x45/0x520
l2cap_chan_connect+0xac6/0xd90
l2cap_sock_connect+0x216/0x350
__sys_connect+0x101/0x130
__x64_sys_connect+0x40/0x50
do_syscall_64+0x115/0x6a0 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:87)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Freed by task stack:
kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60
kasan_save_track+0x17/0x60
kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60
__kasan_slab_free+0x5f/0x80
kfree+0x313/0x590
hci_conn_hash_flush+0xc0/0x140
hci_dev_close_sync+0x41a/0xb00
hci_dev_close+0x12f/0x160
hci_sock_ioctl+0x157/0x570
sock_do_ioctl+0xf7/0x210
sock_ioctl+0x32f/0x490
__x64_sys_ioctl+0xc7/0x110
do_syscall_64+0x115/0x6a0 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:87)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
kasan_record_aux_stack+0xa7/0xc0
insert_work+0x32/0x100
__queue_work+0x262/0xa60
queue_work_on+0xad/0xb0
l2cap_connect_cfm+0x4ef/0x670
hci_le_remote_feat_complete_evt+0x247/0x430
hci_event_packet+0x360/0x6f0
hci_rx_work+0x2ae/0x7a0
process_one_work+0x4fd/0xbc0
worker_thread+0x2d8/0x570
kthread+0x1ad/0x1f0
ret_from_fork+0x3c9/0x540
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30