CVE-2026-98748: serial: 8250_bcm7271: fix use-after-free in brcmuart_remove()

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: 2026-10-18 · updated 2026-10-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: 8250_bcm7271: fix use-after-free in brcmuart_remove() brcmuart_handle_irq() starts priv->hrt to work around a receive-timeout quirk of the 8250 core when hardware flow control is enabled; the timer callback brcmuart_hrtimer_func() dereferences priv. brcmuart_remove() cancels the hrtimer before it unregisters the port, so a receive-timeout interrupt that arrives in between re-arms the timer. After devm frees priv, the callback runs on freed memory. Unregister the port before cancelling the hrtimer. serial8250_unregister_port() shuts the port down and frees its IRQ, so brcmuart_handle_irq() can no longer restart the timer, and the final hrtimer_cancel() drains any timer that was armed before or during the unregister. This issue was found by an in-house static analysis tool.

Affected products

Linux: 5.13 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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