Description
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.6.24 – < 6.6.29, 6.7.12 – < 6.8, 6.8 | 6.6.29 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 6.8.9-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 6.8.9-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux | 6.8.0-38.38 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-aws | 6.8.0-1011.12 | USN-6893-3 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-azure | 6.8.0-1010.10 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-gcp | 6.8.0-1010.11 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-gke | 6.8.0-1006.9 | USN-6893-2 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-ibm +2 | 6.8.0-1008.8 | USN-6918-1, USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-intel | 6.8.0-1007.14 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-nvidia | 6.8.0-1009.9 | USN-6893-2 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-raspi | 6.8.0-1007.7 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-riscv +1 | 6.8.0-38.38.1 | USN-6893-1 |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-aws-6.8 | 6.8.0-1011.12~22.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-azure-6.8 | 6.8.0-1010.10~22.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-nvidia-6.8 | 6.8.0-1009.9~22.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-oracle-6.8 | 6.8.0-1008.8~22.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +22 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +26 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +13 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-raspi-realtime | 6.8.0-2006.6 | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime | 6.8.1-1004.4 | — |
Advisories 5
- USN-6893-1 linux, linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-ibm, linux-intel, linux-lowlatency, linux-oem-6.8, linux-raspi vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 23, 2026
- USN-6893-2 linux-gke, linux-nvidia vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 23, 2026
- USN-6893-3 linux-aws vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 23, 2026
- USN-6918-1 linux-oracle vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 23, 2026
- WID-SEC-2024-1008 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen ermöglichen Denial of Service BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Oct 12, 2026