Race Condition Vulnerability in Linux Kernel Affecting Console UART

CVE-2026-80886

What is CVE-2026-80886?

A race condition vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel related to the console UART due to concurrent writes from userspace and the kernel. During system startup or shutdown, when multiple system services interact with the kernel, this issue may trigger an infinite loop of repeated messages in the console output. The underlying cause is a timing conflict between the userspace writing to the TTY device and the kernel attempting to reconfigure the UART controller, leading to stalled progress for the DMA operation. To ensure reliable kernel console output, particularly during critical operations like crashes, DMA has been disabled for the console UART instance.

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