CVE-2024-26978: serial: max310x: fix NULL pointer dereference in I2C instantiation

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-05-01 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: max310x: fix NULL pointer dereference in I2C instantiation When trying to instantiate a max14830 device from userspace: echo max14830 0x60 > /sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-2/new_device we get the following error: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address... ... Call trace: max310x_i2c_probe+0x48/0x170 [max310x] i2c_device_probe+0x150/0x2a0 ... Add check for validity of devtype to prevent the error, and abort probe with a meaningful error message.

Affected products

Linux kernel: before 5.4.274; from 5.5 before 5.10.215; from 5.11 before 6.1.84; from 6.2 before 6.6.24; from 6.7 before 6.7.12; from 6.8 through 6.8.3 — fixed in 5.10.215, 5.4.274, 6.1.84, 6.6.24, 6.7.12

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.215, 5.4.274, 6.1.84, 6.6.24. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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