serial: 8250: fix possible ISR soft lockup

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-97481 records a Unknown severity vulnerability in serial: 8250: fix possible ISR soft lockup. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Sep 24, 2026Updated Sep 24, 2026Source checked Sep 25, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 25, 2026Material review Sep 24, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Unknown severitySource severity not reported
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 1 mapped package or product
Fix availability: Available

Why this deserves its current priority

A CVSS score is not reported in the current record. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
Linux/Linuxgeneric	>=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <2881b2e6da02daea1eb8254247ba8fd20c9d3348 \|\| >=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4295c58990b7a84e8349a2226db692e252825b60 \|\| >=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <0c6bf45e5a345cc3b9ffbeaf9083ecac3c2293eb \|\| >=0 <6.12.111 \|\| >=0 <6.18.53	2881b2e6da02daea1eb8254247ba8fd20c9d3348, 4295c58990b7a84e8349a2226db692e252825b60, 0c6bf45e5a345cc3b9ffbeaf9083ecac3c2293eb, 6.12.111, 6.18.53

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Linux/Linux.
Review the reported fix. Update Linux/Linux to 2881b2e6da02daea1eb8254247ba8fd20c9d3348 if you use the affected versions. Test the change in a non-production environment first.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Sep 24, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 24, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 25, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: 8250: fix possible ISR soft lockup There are rare cases in which the host gets stuck in the ISR because it is flooded with messages during the startup phase. The reason for the soft lockup in the ISR is the missing FIFO error IRQ (FIFOE) handling. Not handling it and reporting IRQ_HANDLED triggers the IRQ immediately again. Fix this by adding a check for the FIFOE status and clearing the FIFO if no data is ready (DR). This behavior was observed on an AM62L device which uses the OMAP 8250 driver. Fix it for all 8250 drivers, since the OMAP driver's special IRQ setup handling may trigger this behavior more frequently, but it is not ensured that other 8250 drivers aren't affected.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.