Monitor vulnerabilities like this one.
Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.
Linux Kernel Vulnerability: Unconfigured Serial Port Can Crash System
CVE-2026-23115
Summary
A Linux kernel vulnerability allows a malicious user to open a console without proper setup, potentially crashing the system. This issue affects Linux systems with serial port console enabled. To fix this vulnerability, a patch has been applied to ensure the serial port is properly configured before it is used as a console.
Original title
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
serial: Fix not set tty->port race condition
Revert commit bfc467db60b7 ("serial: remove redundant
tty_port_link_device()") bec...
Original description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
serial: Fix not set tty->port race condition
Revert commit bfc467db60b7 ("serial: remove redundant
tty_port_link_device()") because the tty_port_link_device() is not
redundant: the tty->port has to be confured before we call
uart_configure_port(), otherwise user-space can open console without TTY
linked to the driver.
This tty_port_link_device() was added explicitly to avoid this exact
issue in commit fb2b90014d78 ("tty: link tty and port before configuring
it as console"), so offending commit basically reverted the fix saying
it is redundant without addressing the actual race condition presented
there.
Reproducible always as tty->port warning on Qualcomm SoC with most of
devices disabled, so with very fast boot, and one serial device being
the console:
printk: legacy console [ttyMSM0] enabled
printk: legacy console [ttyMSM0] enabled
printk: legacy bootconsole [qcom_geni0] disabled
printk: legacy bootconsole [qcom_geni0] disabled
------------[ cut here ]------------
tty_init_dev: ttyMSM driver does not set tty->port. This would crash the kernel. Fix the driver!
WARNING: drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1414 at tty_init_dev.part.0+0x228/0x25c, CPU#2: systemd/1
Modules linked in: socinfo tcsrcc_eliza gcc_eliza sm3_ce fuse ipv6
CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G S 6.19.0-rc4-next-20260108-00024-g2202f4d30aa8 #73 PREEMPT
Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC
Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Eliza (DT)
...
tty_init_dev.part.0 (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1414 (discriminator 11)) (P)
tty_open (arch/arm64/include/asm/atomic_ll_sc.h:95 (discriminator 3) drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2073 (discriminator 3) drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2120 (discriminator 3))
chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:411)
do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:962)
vfs_open (fs/open.c:1094)
do_open (fs/namei.c:4634)
path_openat (fs/namei.c:4793)
do_filp_open (fs/namei.c:4820)
do_sys_openat2 (fs/open.c:1391 (discriminator 3))
...
Starting Network Name Resolution...
Apparently the flow with this small Yocto-based ramdisk user-space is:
driver (qcom_geni_serial.c): user-space:
============================ ===========
qcom_geni_serial_probe()
uart_add_one_port()
serial_core_register_port()
serial_core_add_one_port()
uart_configure_port()
register_console()
|
| open console
| ...
| tty_init_dev()
| driver->ports[idx] is NULL
|
tty_port_register_device_attr_serdev()
tty_port_link_device() <- set driver->ports[idx]
serial: Fix not set tty->port race condition
Revert commit bfc467db60b7 ("serial: remove redundant
tty_port_link_device()") because the tty_port_link_device() is not
redundant: the tty->port has to be confured before we call
uart_configure_port(), otherwise user-space can open console without TTY
linked to the driver.
This tty_port_link_device() was added explicitly to avoid this exact
issue in commit fb2b90014d78 ("tty: link tty and port before configuring
it as console"), so offending commit basically reverted the fix saying
it is redundant without addressing the actual race condition presented
there.
Reproducible always as tty->port warning on Qualcomm SoC with most of
devices disabled, so with very fast boot, and one serial device being
the console:
printk: legacy console [ttyMSM0] enabled
printk: legacy console [ttyMSM0] enabled
printk: legacy bootconsole [qcom_geni0] disabled
printk: legacy bootconsole [qcom_geni0] disabled
------------[ cut here ]------------
tty_init_dev: ttyMSM driver does not set tty->port. This would crash the kernel. Fix the driver!
WARNING: drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1414 at tty_init_dev.part.0+0x228/0x25c, CPU#2: systemd/1
Modules linked in: socinfo tcsrcc_eliza gcc_eliza sm3_ce fuse ipv6
CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G S 6.19.0-rc4-next-20260108-00024-g2202f4d30aa8 #73 PREEMPT
Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC
Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Eliza (DT)
...
tty_init_dev.part.0 (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1414 (discriminator 11)) (P)
tty_open (arch/arm64/include/asm/atomic_ll_sc.h:95 (discriminator 3) drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2073 (discriminator 3) drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2120 (discriminator 3))
chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:411)
do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:962)
vfs_open (fs/open.c:1094)
do_open (fs/namei.c:4634)
path_openat (fs/namei.c:4793)
do_filp_open (fs/namei.c:4820)
do_sys_openat2 (fs/open.c:1391 (discriminator 3))
...
Starting Network Name Resolution...
Apparently the flow with this small Yocto-based ramdisk user-space is:
driver (qcom_geni_serial.c): user-space:
============================ ===========
qcom_geni_serial_probe()
uart_add_one_port()
serial_core_register_port()
serial_core_add_one_port()
uart_configure_port()
register_console()
|
| open console
| ...
| tty_init_dev()
| driver->ports[idx] is NULL
|
tty_port_register_device_attr_serdev()
tty_port_link_device() <- set driver->ports[idx]
Published: 14 Feb 2026 · Updated: 10 Mar 2026 · First seen: 6 Mar 2026