Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5 Tty Port null pointer dereference

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.8	$0-$5k	0.46-

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This affects an unknown function of the component Tty Port. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-98753. The attack is only possible with local access. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This affects some unknown processing of the component Tty Port. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: tty_port: restore TTY_IO_ERROR on activation failure Make sure to restore the TTY_IO_ERROR flag if activation fails to prevent I/O attempts on a port that is gone or powered down. This specifically avoids issues like kernel panic due to unclocked accesses or NULL-pointer dereferences when accessing powered down or deregistered ports when a TTY ioctl races with hangup and open. Note that the flag is set again in tty_port_close() but not restoring it on activation failure leaves a window where drivers fail to handle the ioctl-hangup race.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98753 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

Upgrading to version 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 or 7.3-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 34d4f67472ef7a744970b772a8565ddc727788e2/7021acc84c2e0add77a1a33152e3a1e428fdbfdb/6388409b711eb91b14fa075a4d861ccc4df1cfe7/56964f6a31238fb41d5830bb42520c5b10ff7d8f is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.112
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4
• 7.3-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.8

VulDB Base Score: 5.0
VulDB Temp Score: 4.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Null pointer dereference
CWE: CWE-476 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.113/6.18.56/7.2.10/7.3-rc6
Patch: 34d4f67472ef7a744970b772a8565ddc727788e2/7021acc84c2e0add77a1a33152e3a1e428fdbfdb/6388409b711eb91b14fa075a4d861ccc4df1cfe7/56964f6a31238fb41d5830bb42520c5b10ff7d8f

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98753 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98753
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-422001

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 19:45
Changes: 10/18/2026 19:45 (58)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion

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