tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register
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.
CVE-2026-97480
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-97480
Linux
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Linux
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/1/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4",
"lessThan": "68059b6e9f7292714286e2b0f5185ed2a43fccc5",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4",
"lessThan": "9c78f89cf2fbae18b14c78bf172ca15d832aff15",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4",
"lessThan": "5cbab666721d974bfe033a12045d808936deaefd",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4",
"lessThan": "941c9f84c9b6310f7aaa1c8c785dcc634ee33050",
"versionType": "git"
}
],
"programFiles": [
"drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_core.c"
],
"defaultStatus": "unaffected"
},
{
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "5.3"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "5.3",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.6.160",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.6.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.12.114",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "6.18.53",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*"
},
{
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
"lessThanOrEqual": "*"
}
],
"programFiles": [
"drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_core.c"
],
"defaultStatus": "affected"
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-97480
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
No explicit severity was provided.
- Event
- #48762 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date