CVE-2026-23472 — serial: core: fix infinite loop in handle_tx() for PORT_UNKNOWN

Affected: Linux

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

serial: core: fix infinite loop in handle_tx() for PORT_UNKNOWN

uart_write_room() and uart_write() behave inconsistently when xmit_buf is NULL (which happens for PORT_UNKNOWN ports that were never properly initialized):

- uart_write_room() returns kfifo_avail() which can be > 0 - uart_write() checks xmit_buf and returns 0 if NULL

This inconsistency causes an infinite loop in drivers that rely on tty_write_room() to determine if they can write:

while (tty_write_room(tty) > 0) { written = tty->ops->write(...); // written is always 0, loop never exits }

For example, caif_serial's handle_tx() enters an infinite loop when used with PORT_UNKNOWN serial ports, causing system hangs.

Fix by making uart_write_room() also check xmit_buf and return 0 if it's NULL, consistent with uart_write().

Reproducer: https://gist.github.com/mrpre/d9a694cc0e19828ee3bc3b37983fde13

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CVE-2026-23472 — serial: core: fix infinite loop in handle_tx() for PORT_UNKNOWN