tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register serial8250_register_8250_port() conditionally copies uart->port.dev from up->port.dev only when up->port.dev is non-NULL: if (up->port.dev) { uart->port.dev = up->port.dev; ... } So if both the existing uart slot and up have a NULL ->dev, uart->port.dev remains NULL. The very next ACPI companion check then dereferences it unconditionally: if (!has_acpi_companion(uart->port.dev)) { has_acpi_companion() reads dev->fwnode without a NULL guard (include/linux/acpi.h), so this NULL-derefs the kernel for the remaining no-dev case rather than just skipping the mctrl_gpio_init() initialisation as intended. smatch flags the inconsistency: drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_core.c:767 serial8250_register_8250_port() error: 'uart->port.dev' could be null (see line 719) Guard the call with a NULL check so register continues to work for callers that legitimately have no parent device (legacy non-OF/non-ACPI registrations). No functional change for callers that pass a non-NULL ->dev.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.53, 7.2
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 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-97480
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jrxp-w58r-g8c9
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@68059b6e9f7292714286e2b0f5185ed2a43fccc5 +1 · CNA
- 2026-10-21 2 new references · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@f728f7f38a6eca16923c72fc6826445810d2b41f · CNA
- 2026-10-30 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f728f7f38a6eca16923c72fc6826445810d2b41f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/68059b6e9f7292714286e2b0f5185ed2a43fccc5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c78f89cf2fbae18b14c78bf172ca15d832aff15
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cbab666721d974bfe033a12045d808936deaefd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/941c9f84c9b6310f7aaa1c8c785dcc634ee33050
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Sources
- CVE-2026-97480 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-97480 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jrxp-w58r-g8c9 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-97480 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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