Kernel memory corruption via stale registration pointers
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux serial core allows local users to corrupt kernel memory via failed driver registration and reprobe. In drivers/tty/serial/serial_core.c, uart_register_driver() retains freed drv->state or released drv->tty_driver pointers, allowing a later probe to skip registration and pass freed state to uart_add_one_port(). Triggering requires registration failure followed by port rebinding; Amazon assesses privileged local access, but a specific crash outcome or code-execution capability is not documented.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux serial core allows local users to corrupt kernel memory via failed driver registration and reprobe. In drivers/tty/serial/serial_core.c, uart_register_driver() retains freed drv->state or released drv->tty_driver pointers, allowing a later probe to skip registration and pass freed state to uart_add_one_port(). Triggering requires registration failure followed by port rebinding; Amazon assesses privileged local access, but a specific crash outcome or code-execution capability is not documented.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90336
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <06b376432974fe5f25f2843a8e8438c6a1cf3d50
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <61a2fb25551be0375bc16ef2a70c987dfca26183
- Affected versionversion=2.6.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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