In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Bluetooth: Fix use-after-free bugs caused by sco_sock_timeout
When the sco connection is established and then, the sco socket is releasing, timeout_work will be scheduled to judge whether the sco disconnection is timeout. The sock will be deallocated later, but it is dereferenced again in sco_sock_timeout. As a result, the use-after-free bugs will happen. The root cause is shown below:
Cleanup Thread | Worker Thread
sco_sock_release | sco_sock_close | __sco_sock_close | sco_sock_set_timer | schedule_delayed_work | sco_sock_kill | (wait a time) sock_put(sk) //FREE | sco_sock_timeout | sock_hold(sk) //USE
The KASAN report triggered by POC is shown below:
[ 95.890016] ================================================================== [ 95.890496] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sco_sock_timeout+0x5e/0x1c0 [ 95.890755] Write of size 4 at addr ffff88800c388080 by task kworker/0:0/7 ... [ 95.890755] Workqueue: events sco_sock_timeout [ 95.890755] Call Trace: [ 95.890755] <TASK> [ 95.890755] dump_stack_lvl+0x45/0x110 [ 95.890755] print_address_description+0x78/0x390 [ 95.890755] print_report+0x11b/0x250 [ 95.890755] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xbe/0xf0 [ 95.890755] ? sco_sock_timeout+0x5e/0x1c0 [ 95.890755] kasan_report+0x139/0x170 [ 95.890755] ? update_load_avg+0xe5/0x9f0 [ 95.890755] ? sco_sock_timeout+0x5e/0x1c0 [ 95.890755] kasan_check_range+0x2c3/0x2e0 [ 95.890755] sco_sock_timeout+0x5e/0x1c0 [ 95.890755] process_one_work+0x561/0xc50 [ 95.890755] worker_thread+0xab2/0x13c0 [ 95.890755] ? pr_cont_work+0x490/0x490 [ 95.890755] kthread+0x279/0x300 [ 95.890755] ? pr_cont_work+0x490/0x490 [ 95.890755] ? kthread_blkcg+0xa0/0xa0 [ 95.890755] ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 [ 95.890755] ? kthread_blkcg+0xa0/0xa0 [ 95.890755] ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20 [ 95.890755] </TASK> [ 95.890755] [ 95.890755] Allocated by task 506: [ 95.890755] kasan_save_track+0x3f/0x70 [ 95.890755] __kasan_kmalloc+0x86/0x90 [ 95.890755] __kmalloc+0x17f/0x360 [ 95.890755] sk_prot_alloc+0xe1/0x1a0 [ 95.890755] sk_alloc+0x31/0x4e0 [ 95.890755] bt_sock_alloc+0x2b/0x2a0 [ 95.890755] sco_sock_create+0xad/0x320 [ 95.890755] bt_sock_create+0x145/0x320 [ 95.890755] __sock_create+0x2e1/0x650 [ 95.890755] __sys_socket+0xd0/0x280 [ 95.890755] __x64_sys_socket+0x75/0x80 [ 95.890755] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 95.890755] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 95.890755] [ 95.890755] Freed by task 506: [ 95.890755] kasan_save_track+0x3f/0x70 [ 95.890755] kasan_save_free_info+0x40/0x50 [ 95.890755] poison_slab_object+0x118/0x180 [ 95.890755] __kasan_slab_free+0x12/0x30 [ 95.890755] kfree+0xb2/0x240 [ 95.890755] __sk_destruct+0x317/0x410 [ 95.890755] sco_sock_release+0x232/0x280 [ 95.890755] sock_close+0xb2/0x210 [ 95.890755] __fput+0x37f/0x770 [ 95.890755] task_work_run+0x1ae/0x210 [ 95.890755] get_signal+0xe17/0xf70 [ 95.890755] arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x3f/0x520 [ 95.890755] syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x55/0x120 [ 95.890755] do_syscall_64+0xd1/0x1b0 [ 95.890755] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 95.890755] [ 95.890755] The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88800c388000 [ 95.890755] which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 [ 95.890755] The buggy address is located 128 bytes inside of [ 95.890755] freed 1024-byte region [ffff88800c388000, ffff88800c388400) [ 95.890755] [ 95.890755] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 95.890755] page: refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0xffff88800c38a800 pfn:0xc388 [ 95.890755] head: order:3 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0 [ 95.890755] ano ---truncated---
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| fedoraproject / fedora | 39 | 39.x |
| fedoraproject / fedora | 40 | 40.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 4.14.263 | 4.15 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 4.19.207 | 4.19.314 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.4.148 | 5.4.276 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.10.67 | 5.10.217 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.13.19 | 5.14 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.14.6 | 5.15.159 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 5.16 | 6.1.91 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.2 | 6.6.31 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.7 | 6.8.10 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc1 | 6.9-rc1.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc2 | 6.9-rc2.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc3 | 6.9-rc3.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc4 | 6.9-rc4.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc5 | 6.9-rc5.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc6 | 6.9-rc6.x |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.9-rc7 | 6.9-rc7.x |
| debian / debian_linux | 10.0 | 10.0.x |
A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.