serial: core: Clearing the circular buffer before NULLifying it
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: core: Clearing the circular buffer before NULLifying it The circular buffer is NULLified in uart_tty_port_shutdown() under the spin lock. However, the PM or other timer based callbacks may still trigger after this event without knowning that buffer pointer is not valid. Since the serial code is a bit inconsistent in checking the buffer state (some rely on the head-tail positions, some on the buffer pointer), it's better to have both aligned, i.e. buffer pointer to be NULL and head-tail possitions to be the same, meaning it's empty. This will prevent asynchronous calls to dereference NULL pointer as reported recently in 8250 case: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000cf5 Workqueue: pm pm_runtime_work EIP: serial8250_tx_chars (drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c:1809) ... ? serial8250_tx_chars (drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c:1809) __start_tx (drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c:1551) serial8250_start_tx (drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c:1654) serial_port_runtime_suspend (include/linux/serial_core.h:667 drivers/tty/serial/serial_port.c:63) __rpm_callback (drivers/base/power/runtime.c:393) ? serial_port_remove (drivers/tty/serial/serial_port.c:50) rpm_suspend (drivers/base/power/runtime.c:447) The proposed change will prevent ->start_tx() to be called during suspend on shut down port.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.6.24 to before 6.6.29; 6.7.12 to before 6.8 | 6.6.29, 6.8 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.8 and later | 6.6.29, 6.8.8, 6.9 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.6.24 to before 6.6.29; 6.7.12 to before 6.8 Fixed in 6.6.29, 6.8 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.8 and later Fixed in 6.6.29, 6.8.8, 6.9 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 5
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.6.24 to before 6.6.29; 6.7.12 to before 6.8; 6.8 to before 6.8.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.9 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.9 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.9 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.9 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.6.24 to before 6.6.29; 6.7.12 to before 6.8; 6.8 to before 6.8.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.9 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.9 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.9 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.9:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.9 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.29, 6.8
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.29, 6.8.8, 6.9
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-26998
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r65x-4xhj-7g65
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2024-26998 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-26998 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-r65x-4xhj-7g65 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2024-26998 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences