Linux Kernel up to 6.18.7 drivers/tty/tty_io.c tty_port_link_device race condition

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.7. This vulnerability affects the function tty_port_link_device of the file drivers/tty/tty_io.c. This manipulation causes race condition. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-23115. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.7. Affected by this vulnerability is the function tty_port_link_device of the file drivers/tty/tty_io.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

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]

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-23115 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299341 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23115), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2501c49306238b54a2de0f93de43d50ab6e76c84/32f37e57583f869140cff445feedeea8a5fea986 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (299341) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0421). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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