* [CVE-2026-98111][MODERATE REGULAR] Bluetooth: btintel: validate version TLV value lengths [ Upstream
@ 2026-09-25 17:12 21% AL-KERNEL
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From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-25 17:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-98111
Priority: MODERATE REGULAR
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: Bluetooth: btintel: validate version TLV value lengths [ Upstream
Commit: 83499ac3ca62e43ed40f7574b13ed398a6891511
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=83499ac3ca62e43ed40f7574b13ed398a6891511
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98111
Analysis date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:12:27 -0400
ActionableScore: 1
ActionableScore lower bound: unknown
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98111 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98111
The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.
The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.
Published priority for this report: MODERATE REGULAR
Manual review required: NO
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-98111 MODERATE https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98111 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L';CWE-125;*CWE-20;CWE-130;Other CVSS 'AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '3.5';DESCR 'An out of bounds read in btintel_parse_version_tlv occurs because the parser checks that a complete TLV is present but does not verify that the TLV value is long enough for its known type. A malformed Intel Bluetooth controller response can cause get_unaligned_le16, get_unaligned_le32, or memcpy to read beyond the declared TLV value. This may expose limited adjacent kernel buffer data or cause unstable behavior. For the CVSS the PR:N value is used because an attacker controlling the responding Bluetooth controller does not need an account or privileges on the host. The attack is not directly network reachable. It normally requires physical access to attach or replace the Bluetooth controller, or prior compromise of local controller firmware. No concrete write primitive or privilege escalation path is indicated by the patch.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1) YES OOB SKB DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS NO NO checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=NO
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=RECOMMENDED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1
* Raw paranoid score: 1
* Paranoid score: 1
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::
2. Signal breakdown
* +1 Firmware-mediated external influence. The malformed TLV is received from the Intel Bluetooth controller firmware through an HCI Command Complete response. An attacker controlling a compatible physical controller, or controller firmware, can influence this input without a host account.
* +0 Weak corruption concern. The patch establishes a bounded out-of-bounds read through get_unaligned_le16, get_unaligned_le32, or memcpy, but not an out-of-bounds write, UAF, type confusion, or refcount mutation.
* +0 Reliable kernel crash not awarded. The supplied patch does not demonstrate a panic, Oops, or reliable fault. The read is short and occurs from an skb-backed response buffer.
* +0 Confidentiality not awarded. No patch-supported path shows bytes read past the declared TLV value being returned to userspace, sent over the network, or otherwise disclosed.
* +0 Integrity not awarded. No write primitive, attacker-controlled destination, or security-state modification is established.
* +0 Strong or weak LPE leverage not awarded. No controlled reclaim, callback influence, active-object replacement, arbitrary read/write, or privilege-boundary bypass is shown.
* +0 Remote reachability not awarded. The vulnerable input is a controller firmware response, not a Bluetooth packet directly supplied by a nearby radio attacker.
* No negative physical-only or rare-hardware penalty was applied. Bluetooth hardware is common, even though a practical malicious-controller scenario requires physical device access or prior controller-firmware compromise.
3. Reachability analysis
The vulnerable parser consumes a vendor-specific response from an Intel Bluetooth controller during controller information retrieval. A malicious or compromised controller can provide a short TLV value that passes the old complete-TLV check but is too short for the parser operation selected by the TLV type.
The complete attack model is not a normal unprivileged local process and is not a direct Bluetooth radio attacker. The realistic attacker is a person with physical access who can attach or replace a compatible Bluetooth device, or an attacker who has already compromised the local Bluetooth controller firmware. No host-admin-equivalent Linux privilege is required for the parser to process a controller response once the device is accepted and initialized.
HostAdminRequired is NO because the vulnerable parsing path can run during device initialization without requiring the attacker to hold a host account or host capability. NamespaceScopedPrivilege is NO because user, network, or Bluetooth namespaces are not relevant to the controller response path. No prior host-side privileged configuration is established beyond the ordinary presence of a supported Intel Bluetooth controller and driver.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is a limited out-of-bounds read caused by insufficient per-type TLV value-length validation. The parser validates that the overall TLV record fits in the skb, but previously failed to validate that the TLV value itself was large enough for the known field type. A short value can therefore cause reads of up to the expected field size beyond the logical TLV value boundary.
This is not a UAF, double free, stale-object lifetime defect, OOB write, or ownership violation. There is no active structured-object reuse, no attacker-controlled replacement of a freed object, and no repeated refcount or release operation. The appropriate classification is CLASS_C because the established behavior is malformed external device input leading to an invalid kernel read without an independently useful corruption primitive.
The patch does not establish a disclosure sink. Although bytes beyond the TLV value may be read internally, the supplied context does not show that those bytes can be observed by the attacker. Likewise, no reliable kernel crash is demonstrated. The practical severity is therefore low, but manual review is recommended to verify whether parsed controller version fields are later exposed through any diagnostic, management, or userspace-visible Bluetooth interface.
ImportantCandidate is NO because there is no meaningful unresolved memory-corruption, lifetime, authorization, or boundary-bypass primitive. AutoDowngradeAllowed is YES because the demonstrated issue is a constrained read-only validation failure with no established disclosure, write, or privilege-escalation mechanism.
5. One-sentence report phrase
A malformed Intel Bluetooth controller response can trigger a limited out-of-bounds read in btintel_parse_version_tlv due to missing per-type TLV value-length validation, but no disclosure, write primitive, kernel crash, or privilege escalation path is established.
6. Manual review recommendation
MANUAL CHECK RECOMMENDED
Verify whether the parsed version fields, including values populated from the short TLV read, can reach a userspace-visible Bluetooth management, debug, or diagnostic output path. Without such a disclosure path, this remains a constrained low-severity invalid-read issue.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: medium
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: Bluetooth: btintel: validate version TLV value lengths [ Upstream
Commit: 83499ac3ca62e43ed40f7574b13ed398a6891511
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=83499ac3ca62e43ed40f7574b13ed398a6891511
Changed files:
drivers/bluetooth/btintel.c
Diff excerpt:
Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.
Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=83499ac3ca62e43ed40f7574b13ed398a6891511
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98111 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98111
The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.
The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.
The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.
Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:
Conservative CVSS vector: AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 3.5
The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.
CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.
A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.
Conservative ActionableScore: unknown
Paranoid ActionableScore: 1
The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.
For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:
ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR
ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0
The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.
There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).
KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.
AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: MODERATE
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE REGULAR
These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).
Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is [email protected] (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).
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