serial: 8250: fix possible ISR soft lockup
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: 5 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: serial: 8250: fix possible ISR soft lockup There are rare cases in which the host gets stuck in the ISR because it is flooded with messages during the startup phase. The reason for the soft lockup in the ISR is the missing FIFO error IRQ (FIFOE) handling. Not handling it and reporting IRQ_HANDLED triggers the IRQ immediately again. Fix this by adding a check for the FIFOE status and clearing the FIFO if no data is ready (DR). This behavior was observed on an AM62L device which uses the OMAP 8250 driver. Fix it for all 8250 drivers, since the OMAP driver's special IRQ setup handling may trigger this behavior more frequently, but it is not ensured that other 8250 drivers aren't affected.
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 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 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 8 | 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: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-97481
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-whv8-h8xw-cr4q
- 2026-10-03 Fix available: Linux/Linux@03ed804a0ddc3d069faf94c47f9e702afe5ca084, Linux/Linux@4bce4a6f6318035d77d6b6199527b1950bb015f4, Linux/[email protected] +5 · CNA
- 2026-10-03 4 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bce4a6f6318035d77d6b6199527b1950bb015f4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b67af8cd90542b2607623e3282811849e191b79
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95d0b40c0623fd2b58c753f8dd6adda7263e3cd1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03ed804a0ddc3d069faf94c47f9e702afe5ca084
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2881b2e6da02daea1eb8254247ba8fd20c9d3348
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4295c58990b7a84e8349a2226db692e252825b60
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c6bf45e5a345cc3b9ffbeaf9083ecac3c2293eb
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Sources
- CVE-2026-97481 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-97481 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-whv8-h8xw-cr4q · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-97481 · 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