CVE-2026-97480tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register
- —Not scoredno CVSS score yet
- 0.17%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 93% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
Published
- 36 days later
· 36 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
No CVSS score yet: neither the CNA, CISA nor NVD has scored this CVE. NVD status: Received.
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.17% · top 93% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Not scored.
Affected products
- affected 4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4 – < f728f7f38a6eca16923c72fc6826445810d2b41f
- affected 4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4 – < 68059b6e9f7292714286e2b0f5185ed2a43fccc5
- affected 4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4 – < 9c78f89cf2fbae18b14c78bf172ca15d832aff15
- affected 4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4 – < 5cbab666721d974bfe033a12045d808936deaefd
- affected 4a96895f74c9633b51427fd080ab70fa62b65bc4 – < 941c9f84c9b6310f7aaa1c8c785dcc634ee33050
- affected 5.3
- unaffected < 5.3
- unaffected 6.1.191 – ≤ 6.1.*
- unaffected 6.6.160 – ≤ 6.6.*
- unaffected 6.12.114 – ≤ 6.12.*
- unaffected 6.18.53 – ≤ 6.18.*
- unaffected 7.2 – ≤ *
References
References5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f728f7f38a6eca16923c72fc6826445810d2b41f (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/68059b6e9f7292714286e2b0f5185ed2a43fccc5 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c78f89cf2fbae18b14c78bf172ca15d832aff15 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cbab666721d974bfe033a12045d808936deaefd (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/941c9f84c9b6310f7aaa1c8c785dcc634ee33050 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-86078 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-97480)Record last updated .