# CVE-2026-45866: linux: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: caif: fix use-after-free in caif_serial... CVE-2026-45866 is fixed in 14 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45866, released May 27, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High. - Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-45866 - Priority: High - CVSS: 7.8 (high) - EPSS: 0.0016 - CISA KEV: not listed - Exploited (vendor report): no - Publicly disclosed: no - Published: May 27, 2026 ## Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: caif: fix use-after-free in caif_serial ldisc_close() There is a use-after-free bug in caif_serial where handle_tx() may access ser->tty after the tty has been freed. The race condition occurs between ldisc_close() and packet transmission: CPU 0 (close) CPU 1 (xmit) ------------- ------------ ldisc_close() tty_kref_put(ser->tty) [tty may be freed here] <-- race window --> caif_xmit() handle_tx() tty = ser->tty // dangling ptr tty->ops->write() // UAF! schedule_work() ser_release() unregister_netdevice() The root cause is that tty_kref_put() is called in ldisc_close() while the network device is still active and can receive packets. Since ser and tty have a 1:1 binding relationship with consistent lifecycles (ser is allocated in ldisc_open and freed in ser_release via unregister_netdevice, and each ser binds exactly one tty), we can safely defer the tty reference release to ser_release() where the network device is unregistered. Fix this by moving tty_kref_put() from ldisc_close() to ser_release(), after unregister_netdevice(). This ensures the tty reference is held as long as the network device exists, preventing the UAF. Note: We save ser->tty before unregister_netdevice() because ser is embedded in netdev's private data and will be freed along with netdev (needs_free_netdev = true). How to reproduce: Add mdelay(500) at the beginning of ldisc_close() to widen the race window, then run the reproducer program [1]. Note: There is a separate deadloop issue in handle_tx() when using PORT_UNKNOWN serial ports (e.g., /dev/ttyS3 in QEMU without proper serial backend). This deadloop exists even without this patch, and is likely caused by inconsistency between uart_write_room() and uart_write() in serial core. It has been addressed in a separate patch [2]. KASAN report: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in handle_tx+0x5d1/0x620 Read of size 1 at addr ffff8881131e1490 by task caif_uaf_trigge/9929 Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x10e/0x1f0 print_report+0xd0/0x630 kasan_report+0xe4/0x120 handle_tx+0x5d1/0x620 dev_hard_start_xmit+0x9d/0x6c0 __dev_queue_xmit+0x6e2/0x4410 packet_xmit+0x243/0x360 packet_sendmsg+0x26cf/0x5500 __sys_sendto+0x4a3/0x520 __x64_sys_sendto+0xe0/0x1c0 do_syscall_64+0xc9/0xf80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f615df2c0d7 Allocated by task 9930: Freed by task 64: Last potentially related work creation: The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8881131e1000 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-cg-2k of size 2048 The buggy address is located 1168 bytes inside of freed 2048-byte region [ffff8881131e1000, ffff8881131e1800) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page_owner tracks the page as allocated page last free pid 9778 tgid 9778 stack trace: Memory state around the buggy address: ffff8881131e1380: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8881131e1400: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb >ffff8881131e1480: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff8881131e1500: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8881131e1580: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ================================================================== [1]: https://gist.github.com/mrpre/f683f244544f7b11e7fa87df9e6c2eeb [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-serial/20260204074327.226165-1-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev/T/#u ## Where it's fixed | Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released | |---|---|---|---|---| | Linux | dtb-aarch64 opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-64kb opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-64kb sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-azure opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-azure sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-default opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-default sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23237-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23237-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-default-base opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1.160000.2.19 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-default-base sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1.160000.2.19 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-docs opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-docs sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-kvmsmall opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-kvmsmall sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-obs-build opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-obs-qa opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-obs-qa sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-rt opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-source opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-source sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-syms opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-syms sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-zfcpdump opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21555-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2026-21555-1.md) | Aug 12, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-zfcpdump sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.37.1 | [SUSE-SU-2026:23231-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2026-23231-1.md) | Aug 11, 2026 | | Linux | linux Debian 12.15 (bookworm) | 6.1.170-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45866](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-45866.md) | May 27, 2026 | | Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.85-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45866](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-45866.md) | May 27, 2026 | | Linux | linux Debian 14 | 6.18.14-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45866](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-45866.md) | May 27, 2026 | --- Data as of 2026-11-08T13:06:02Z UTC. 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