tty: serial: uartlite: register uart driver in init
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: serial: uartlite: register uart driver in init When two instances of uart devices are probing, a concurrency race can occur. If one thread calls uart_register_driver function, which first allocates and assigns memory to 'uart_state' member of uart_driver structure, the other instance can bypass uart driver registration and call ulite_assign. This calls uart_add_one_port, which expects the uart driver to be fully initialized. This leads to a kernel panic due to a null pointer dereference: [ 8.143581] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000002b8 [ 8.156982] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode [ 8.156984] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page [ 8.156986] PGD 0 P4D 0 ... [ 8.180668] RIP: 0010:mutex_lock+0x19/0x30 [ 8.188624] Call Trace: [ 8.188629] ? __die_body.cold+0x1a/0x1f [ 8.195260] ? page_fault_oops+0x15c/0x290 [ 8.209183] ? __irq_resolve_mapping+0x47/0x80 [ 8.209187] ? exc_page_fault+0x64/0x140 [ 8.209190] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 [ 8.209196] ? mutex_lock+0x19/0x30 [ 8.223116] uart_add_one_port+0x60/0x440 [ 8.223122] ? proc_tty_register_driver+0x43/0x50 [ 8.223126] ? tty_register_driver+0x1ca/0x1e0 [ 8.246250] ulite_probe+0x357/0x4b0 [uartlite] To prevent it, move uart driver registration in to init function. This will ensure that uart_driver is always registered when probe function is called.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
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 | 2.6.20 and later | 5.4.296, 5.15.187, 6.1.143, 6.6.96, 6.12.36, 6.15.5, 6.16 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.20 and later Fixed in 5.4.296, 5.15.187, 6.1.143, 6.6.96, 6.12.36, 6.15.5, 6.16 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 2
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.296, 5.15.187, 6.1.143, 6.6.96, 6.12.36, 6.15.5, 6.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-38262
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hx36-fpq9-j3mg
- 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Patch 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5015eed450005bab6e5cb6810f7a62eab0434fc4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c905fdbba68a6d73d39a6b7de9b9f0d6c46df87
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6db06aaea07bb7c8e33a425cf7b98bf29ee6056e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e958d10dd0ce5ae674cce460db5c9ca3f25243b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/685d29f2c5057b32c7b1b46f2a7d303b926c8f72
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f5e4229d94792b40e750f30c92bcf7a3107c72ef
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bd697b5fc39fd24e2aa418c7b7d14469f550a93
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-2025-38262 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-38262 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-hx36-fpq9-j3mg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-38262 · 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