CVE-2026-72238: x86/boot: Validate console=uart8250 baud rate to fix early boot hang

Severity: unknown
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: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-08-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/boot: Validate console=uart8250 baud rate to fix early boot hang When the baud rate is empty, 0, invalid, or overflows to 0 when stored as an int, the system will hang during early boot because of a division by zero in early_serial_init(). Fall back to DEFAULT_BAUD when the resulting baud rate is 0 to prevent an early system hang.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 2.6.36 — fixed in 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24fbed0a2a45f5f379ef2b53bd2abe58be1142ad
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4dad7e870c7e5178f71b5e1e4f67934b9e8cc207
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a77a7639dfdc3eca417cd37620ce64da79c80c4
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4d05032e9af7137eab8f3af2855073f896ca843
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1a276a731d02cbb728d0530f327a68728f2d8b0
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efa96a22613b86e05cd81229ce0be411c1a4a79a
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7c67c97b37c11f2a95c204092fb8159f2779e8f
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ffa0aa5b625fe0bed7463ac613f8b06676ff4542

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