CVE-2026-68434 serial: 8250_mid: Fix NULL function pointer dereference on DNV/ICX-D/SNR platforms
A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel serial driver causes a system crash on specific Intel platforms, requiring a kernel patch.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-68434?
CVE-2026-68434 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 12 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
serial: 8250_mid: Fix NULL function pointer dereference on DNV/ICX-D/SNR platforms
Commit b1b4efea05a5 ("serial: 8250_mid: Disable DMA for selected platforms") replaced the dnv_board setup and exit callbacks with PTR_IF(false, ...), which evaluates to NULL. However, the three call sites in mid8250_probe() and mid8250_remove() unconditionally dereference these function pointers without NULL checks, causing a NULL pointer dereference (kernel oops) on any Denverton (DNV), Ice Lake Xeon D (ICX-D/CDF), or Snowridge (SNR) platform.
Fix this by adding the missing NULL checks before calling the setup and exit callbacks.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68434?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68434?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-68434 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68434 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68434, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68434, GHSA-97r7-mpr3-66vh, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68434.