NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2026-46213: HID: appletb-kbd: fix UAF in inactivity-timer cleanup path

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.12% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: Linux Linux 4db2af929279c799b5653a39eb0795c72baffca4, 59a79938ca5541fe55d675304116b7ea684afef0, 6.16.
Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 4db2af929279c799b5653a39eb0795c72baffca4, 59a79938ca5541fe55d675304116b7ea684afef0, 6.16 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: appletb-kbd: fix UAF in inactivity-timer cleanup path Commit 38224c472a03 ("HID: appletb-kbd: fix slab use-after-free bug in appletb_kbd_probe") added timer_delete_sync(&kbd->inactivity_timer) to both the probe close_hw error path and appletb_kbd_remove(), but the way it was wired in left the inactivity timer reachable during driver tear-down via two distinct windows. Window A -- put_device() before timer_delete_sync(): put_device(&kbd->backlight_dev->dev); timer_delete_sync(&kbd->inactivity_timer); The inactivity_timer softirq reads kbd->backlight_dev and calls backlight_device_set_brightness() -> mutex_lock(&ops_lock). If a concurrent hid_appletb_bl unbind drops the last devm reference between these two calls, the backlight_device is freed and the mutex_lock() touches freed memory. Window B -- backlight cleanup before hid_hw_stop(): if (kbd->backlight_dev) { timer_delete_sync(...); put_device(...); } hid_hw_close(hdev); hid_hw_stop(hdev); Even after Window A is closed, hid_hw_close()/hid_hw_stop() still run afterwards, so a late ".event" callback from the HID core (USB URB completion on real Apple hardware) can arrive after timer_delete_sync() drained the softirq but before put_device() drops the reference. That callback reaches reset_inactivity_timer(), which calls mod_timer() and re-arms the timer. The freshly re-armed timer can then fire on the about-to-be-freed backlight_device. Both windows produce the same KASAN slab-use-after-free: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __mutex_lock+0x1aab/0x21c0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88803ee9a108 by task swapper/0/0 Call Trace: <IRQ> __mutex_lock backlight_device_set_brightness appletb_inactivity_timer call_timer_fn run_timer_softirq handle_softirqs Allocated by task N: devm_backlight_device_register appletb_bl_probe Freed by task M: (concurrent hid_appletb_bl unbind path) Close both windows at once by reworking the tear-down in appletb_kbd_remove() and in the probe close_hw error path so that 1) hid_hw_close()/hid_hw_stop() run before the backlight cleanup, guaranteeing no further .event callback can fire and re-arm the timer, and 2) inside the "if (kbd->backlight_dev)" block, timer_delete_sync() runs before put_device(), so the softirq is drained before the final reference is dropped.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Memory safety

Published: May 28, 2026
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 0.1% · 2th percentile
CWE: CWE-416

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.1%

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No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
linux	linux kernel	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

linux linux kernel6.15.6 and later · before 6.16
linux linux kernel6.16.1 and later · before 6.18.32
linux linux kernel6.19 and later · before 7.0.9
linux linux kernel6.16
linux linux kernel7.1

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Linux Linux
- 51720dee3a61ebace36c3dcdd0b4a488e0970f29, 6.16affected
- 38224c472a038fa9ccd4085511dd9f3d6119dbf9 and later · before 59a79938ca5541fe55d675304116b7ea684afef0affected · git
- 38224c472a038fa9ccd4085511dd9f3d6119dbf9 and later · before 93d989e47bc316c793a69c6a332e053c90e29f02affected · git
- 38224c472a038fa9ccd4085511dd9f3d6119dbf9 and later · before 4db2af929279c799b5653a39eb0795c72baffca4affected · git
- 6.15.6 and later · before 6.16affected · semver
- before 6.16not affected · semver
- 6.18.32 and later · up to and including 6.18.*not affected · semver
- 7.0.9 and later · up to and including 7.0.*not affected · semver
- 7.1 and laternot affected · original_commit_for_fix

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Debian:14	linux	before 7.0.9-1	7.0.9-1

Same product

linux: all records

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Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-46211May 28, 2026 · drm/msm/gem: fix error handling in msm_ioctl_gem_info_get_metadata()
22Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-46212May 28, 2026 · batman-adv: bla: prevent use-after-free when deleting claims
35Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-46215May 28, 2026 · drm: Set old handle to NULL before prime swap in change_handle
31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
Linux Linux	4db2af929279c799b5653a39eb0795c72baffca4	Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux	59a79938ca5541fe55d675304116b7ea684afef0	Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux	6.16	Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux	93d989e47bc316c793a69c6a332e053c90e29f02	Vendor (CNA)
debian:linux	7.0.9-1 · Debian:14	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

TR-26-0290 · Jun 2, 2026(Linux Kernel Güvenlik Bildirimi)

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1free(dev->buf);
2/* ... another thread is still running ... */
3process(dev->buf);

Fixed

1lock(&dev->lock);
2free(dev->buf);
3dev->buf = NULL;
4unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

git.kernel.org/stable/c/4db2af929279c799b5653a39eb0795c72baffca4

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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