tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register
CVE-2026-97480 is fixed in 20 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97480, released September 24, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.
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.
Where it's fixed
| Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | |||
| bpftool6.18 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| bpftool6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel-livepatch-6.18.54-121.166 · amzn 2023 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-devel · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-headers · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-modules-extra · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-modules-extra-common · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-tools · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-tools-debuginfo · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| kernel6.18-tools-devel · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| linux · Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.115-2 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97480 | Sep 24, 2026 |
| linux · Debian 14 | 7.2.6-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97480 | Sep 24, 2026 |
| microvm-kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| perf6.18 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| python3-perf6.18 · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
| python3-perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3192 | Nov 7, 2026 |
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