CVE-2022-49613: serial: 8250: Fix PM usage_count for console handover

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-02-26 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: 8250: Fix PM usage_count for console handover When console is enabled, univ8250_console_setup() calls serial8250_console_setup() before .dev is set to uart_port. Therefore, it will not call pm_runtime_get_sync(). Later, when the actual driver is going to take over univ8250_console_exit() is called. As .dev is already set, serial8250_console_exit() makes pm_runtime_put_sync() call with usage count being zero triggering PM usage count warning (extra debug for univ8250_console_setup(), univ8250_console_exit(), and serial8250_register_ports()): [ 0.068987] univ8250_console_setup ttyS0 nodev [ 0.499670] printk: console [ttyS0] enabled [ 0.717955] printk: console [ttyS0] printing thread started [ 1.960163] serial8250_register_ports assigned dev for ttyS0 [ 1.976830] printk: console [ttyS0] disabled [ 1.976888] printk: console [ttyS0] printing thread stopped [ 1.977073] univ8250_console_exit ttyS0 usage:0 [ 1.977075] serial8250 serial8250: Runtime PM usage count underflow! [ 1.977429] dw-apb-uart.6: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x4010006000 (irq = 33, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A [ 1.977812] univ8250_console_setup ttyS0 usage:2 [ 1.978167] printk: console [ttyS0] printing thread started [ 1.978203] printk: console [ttyS0] enabled To fix the issue, call pm_runtime_get_sync() in serial8250_register_ports() as soon as .dev is set for an uart_port if it has console enabled. This problem became apparent only recently because 82586a721595 ("PM: runtime: Avoid device usage count underflows") added the warning printout. I confirmed this problem also occurs with v5.18 (w/o the warning printout, obviously).

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.7 before 5.10.132; from 5.11 before 5.15.56; from 5.16 before 5.18.13; 5.19-rc1, 5.19-rc2, 5.19-rc3, 5.19-rc4, 5.19-rc5, 5.19-rc6 — fixed in 5.10.132, 5.15.56, 5.18.13

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.132, 5.15.56, 5.18.13. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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