{"cve":"CVE-2026-45866","nvd":{"published":"2026-05-27T14:16:58.963","modified":"2026-06-25T21:06:52.637","status":"Analyzed","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nserial: caif: fix use-after-free in caif_serial ldisc_close()\n\nThere is a use-after-free bug in caif_serial where handle_tx() may\naccess ser->tty after the tty has been freed.\n\nThe race condition occurs between ldisc_close() and packet transmission:\n\n    CPU 0 (close)                     CPU 1 (xmit)\n    -------------                     ------------\n    ldisc_close()\n      tty_kref_put(ser->tty)\n      [tty may be freed here]\n                     <-- race window -->\n                                      caif_xmit()\n                                        handle_tx()\n                                          tty = ser->tty  // dangling ptr\n                                          tty->ops->write() // UAF!\n      schedule_work()\n        ser_release()\n          unregister_netdevice()\n\nThe root cause is that tty_kref_put() is called in ldisc_close() while\nthe network device is still active and can receive packets.\n\nSince ser and tty have a 1:1 binding relationship with consistent\nlifecycles (ser is allocated in ldisc_open and freed in ser_release\nvia unregister_netdevice, and each ser binds exactly one tty), we can\nsafely defer the tty reference release to ser_release() where the\nnetwork device is unregistered.\n\nFix this by moving tty_kref_put() from ldisc_close() to ser_release(),\nafter unregister_netdevice(). This ensures the tty reference is held\nas long as the network device exists, preventing the UAF.\n\nNote: We save ser->tty before unregister_netdevice() because ser is\nembedded in netdev's private data and will be freed along with netdev\n(needs_free_netdev = true).\n\nHow to reproduce: Add mdelay(500) at the beginning of ldisc_close()\nto widen the race window, then run the reproducer program [1].\n\nNote: There is a separate deadloop issue in handle_tx() when using\nPORT_UNKNOWN serial ports (e.g., /dev/ttyS3 in QEMU without proper\nserial backend). This deadloop exists even without this patch,\nand is likely caused by inconsistency between uart_write_room() and\nuart_write() in serial core. It has been addressed in a separate\npatch [2].\n\nKASAN report:\n\n==================================================================\nBUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in handle_tx+0x5d1/0x620\nRead of size 1 at addr ffff8881131e1490 by task caif_uaf_trigge/9929\n\nCall Trace:\n <TASK>\n dump_stack_lvl+0x10e/0x1f0\n print_report+0xd0/0x630\n kasan_report+0xe4/0x120\n handle_tx+0x5d1/0x620\n dev_hard_start_xmit+0x9d/0x6c0\n __dev_queue_xmit+0x6e2/0x4410\n packet_xmit+0x243/0x360\n packet_sendmsg+0x26cf/0x5500\n __sys_sendto+0x4a3/0x520\n __x64_sys_sendto+0xe0/0x1c0\n do_syscall_64+0xc9/0xf80\n entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f\nRIP: 0033:0x7f615df2c0d7\n\nAllocated by task 9930:\n\nFreed by task 64:\n\nLast potentially related work creation:\n\nThe buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8881131e1000\n which belongs to the cache kmalloc-cg-2k of size 2048\nThe buggy address is located 1168 bytes inside of\n freed 2048-byte region [ffff8881131e1000, ffff8881131e1800)\n\nThe buggy address belongs to the physical page:\npage_owner tracks the page as allocated\npage last free pid 9778 tgid 9778 stack trace:\n\nMemory state around the buggy address:\n ffff8881131e1380: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb\n ffff8881131e1400: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb\n>ffff8881131e1480: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb\n                         ^\n ffff8881131e1500: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb\n ffff8881131e1580: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb\n==================================================================\n[1]: https://gist.github.com/mrpre/f683f244544f7b11e7fa87df9e6c2eeb\n[2]: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-serial/20260204074327.226165-1-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev/T/#u","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":7.8},"cwes":["CWE-416"],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/308e7e4d0a846359685f40aade023aee7b27284c","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/331e2b7051635780edea248dd08ae2026c126f4a","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40962f2bf8cdba63af23aec95ad3f49b689e58e2","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e63d6f68544ae5269ac9735ae5b69b59b5b8725","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52731ef4438155cea782fac74e547a327ab9e7c5"],"products":["linux:linux_kernel"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T22:36:28.938604137+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2026-45866","score":0.00164,"percentile":0.05646,"date":"2026-11-01"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}