[PATCH] Bluetooth: hci_conn: hold conn for LE timeout work

From: Chengfeng Ye

Date: Thu Jul 30 2026 - 06:58:25 EST


le_conn_timeout is embedded in struct hci_conn, but queuing the work
does not hold a reference to the connection. hci_conn_del() uses
cancel_delayed_work() because synchronous cancellation would deadlock
when le_conn_timeout() itself calls hci_conn_del() while holding
hdev->lock.

This leaves the following interleaving possible:

CPU 0 CPU 1
le_conn_timeout()
hci_conn_del()
cancel_delayed_work() = false
hci_conn_cleanup()
put_device()
kfree(conn)
hci_conn_failed(conn, ...)

The callback then dereferences the released connection. KASAN reported:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in hci_conn_failed+0x232/0x250
Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881180e8e20 by task kworker/u33:1/111
Workqueue: hci0 le_conn_timeout
Call Trace:
hci_conn_failed+0x232/0x250
le_conn_timeout+0x23e/0x2c0
process_one_work+0x61b/0xf50
worker_thread+0x45b/0xd10

Allocated by task 115:
__hci_conn_add+0x1758/0x1b90
hci_connect_le+0x523/0x780
l2cap_chan_connect+0xfca/0x1bd0
l2cap_sock_connect+0x310/0x530

Freed by task 110:
kfree+0x149/0x330
device_release+0xc8/0x240
kobject_put+0x14d/0x280
hci_conn_del+0x561/0xe70
hci_abort_conn_sync+0x3e3/0x800

Take a connection device reference before queuing le_conn_timeout. Drop
it when the callback finishes, when queuing fails, or when cancellation
removes a pending instance. If cancellation races an executing callback,
the callback retains the reference until its final access, avoiding the
use-after-free without waiting under hdev->lock.

Fixes: 980ffc0a2cec ("Bluetooth: Fix LE connection timeout deadlock")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Chengfeng Ye <nicoyip.dev@xxxxxxxxx>
---
net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c | 8 ++++++--
net/bluetooth/hci_event.c | 25 ++++++++++++++++---------
2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
index 1966cd153d97..501a2dd2543b 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
@@ -723,10 +723,13 @@ static void le_conn_timeout(struct work_struct *work)
hci_dev_lock(hdev);
hci_conn_failed(conn, HCI_ERROR_ADVERTISING_TIMEOUT);
hci_dev_unlock(hdev);
- return;
+ goto done;
}

hci_abort_conn(conn, HCI_ERROR_REMOTE_USER_TERM);
+
+done:
+ hci_conn_put(conn);
}

struct iso_list_data {
@@ -1267,7 +1270,8 @@ void hci_conn_del(struct hci_conn *conn)
hdev->acl_cnt += conn->sent;
break;
case LE_LINK:
- cancel_delayed_work(&conn->le_conn_timeout);
+ if (cancel_delayed_work(&conn->le_conn_timeout))
+ hci_conn_put(conn);

if (hdev->le_pkts) {
if (!hci_conn_num(hdev, LE_LINK) ||
diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
index 741d658e9630..e1e6b5092ce8 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
@@ -1566,10 +1566,13 @@ static u8 hci_cc_le_set_adv_enable(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data,
hci_dev_set_flag(hdev, HCI_LE_ADV);

conn = hci_lookup_le_connect(hdev);
- if (conn)
- queue_delayed_work(hdev->workqueue,
- &conn->le_conn_timeout,
- conn->conn_timeout);
+ if (conn) {
+ hci_conn_get(conn);
+ if (!queue_delayed_work(hdev->workqueue,
+ &conn->le_conn_timeout,
+ conn->conn_timeout))
+ hci_conn_put(conn);
+ }
} else {
hci_dev_clear_flag(hdev, HCI_LE_ADV);
}
@@ -1614,10 +1617,13 @@ static u8 hci_cc_le_set_ext_adv_enable(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data,
hci_dev_set_flag(hdev, HCI_LE_ADV_0);

conn = hci_lookup_le_connect(hdev);
- if (conn)
- queue_delayed_work(hdev->workqueue,
- &conn->le_conn_timeout,
- conn->conn_timeout);
+ if (conn) {
+ hci_conn_get(conn);
+ if (!queue_delayed_work(hdev->workqueue,
+ &conn->le_conn_timeout,
+ conn->conn_timeout))
+ hci_conn_put(conn);
+ }
} else {
if (cp->num_of_sets) {
if (adv)
@@ -5771,7 +5777,8 @@ static void le_conn_complete_evt(struct hci_dev *hdev, u8 status,
}
}
} else {
- cancel_delayed_work(&conn->le_conn_timeout);
+ if (cancel_delayed_work(&conn->le_conn_timeout))
+ hci_conn_put(conn);
}

/* The HCI_LE_Connection_Complete event is only sent once per connection.
--
2.43.0