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CVE-2023-54038 Not scored

Bluetooth: hci_conn: return ERR_PTR instead of NULL when there is no link

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: hci_conn: return ERR_PTR instead of NULL when there is no link hci_connect_sco currently returns NULL when there is no link (i.e. when hci_conn_link() returns NULL). sco_connect() expects an ERR_PTR in case of any error (see line 266 in sco.c). Thus, hcon set as NULL passes through to sco_conn_add(), which tries to get hcon->hdev, resulting in dereferencing a NULL pointer as reported by syzkaller. The same issue exists for iso_connect_cis() calling hci_connect_cis(). Thus, make hci_connect_sco() and hci_connect_cis() return ERR_PTR instead of NULL.

Exploit probability 0.2%
Published December 24, 2025
Required by Not available
Last source change August 12, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Linux Kernel
Unknown Unknown

777 explicit affected versions

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2023-54038

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: hci_conn: return ERR_PTR instead of NULL when there is no link hci_connect_sco currently returns NULL when there is no link (i.e. when hci_conn_link() returns NULL). sco_connect() expects an ERR_PTR in case of any error (see line 266 in sco.c). Thus, hcon set as NULL passes through to sco_conn_add(), which tries to get hcon->hdev, resulting in dereferencing a NULL pointer as reported by syzkaller. The same issue exists for iso_connect_cis() calling hci_connect_cis(). Thus, make hci_connect_sco() and hci_connect_cis() return ERR_PTR instead of NULL.

View original source

05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence