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CVE-2026-98695

USB: serial: fix ioctl hangup race

Published 2026-10-18 (today) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/usb. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.

What to do, per Debian release

Debian's own status for CVE-2026-98695 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source

Release	Status	Version	What this means
Debian 12bookworm	vulnerable	6.1.190-1	No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication.
Debian 13trixie	fixed	6.12.113-1	Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.113-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.
Debian 14forky	fixed	7.2.10-1	Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.
Debian unstablesid	fixed	7.2.10-1	Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.

The vulnerability

What the bug is

The tty ioctls can race with hangup and end up calling into a tty driver for a device that is already gone or powered down. Serialise the callbacks using the tty port mutex and add the missing checks to make sure the port has not been hung up before accessing port driver data or hardware. This specifically avoids dereferencing a NULL-pointer if a device is disconnected during lengthy break signalling. Note that TIOCGICOUNT and TIOCMIWAIT do not access port driver data or hardware and are therefore not affected by the race.

Where it lives

The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.

drivers/usb/serial/generic.c
drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c
drivers/usb/serial/xr_serial.c

What this is: USB SERIAL SUBSYSTEMMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/usb/serial/ · linux-usb@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
Kernel module: usbserial

Check it on the machine

grep -wE 'CONFIG_OF|CONFIG_PCI|CONFIG_USB|CONFIG_USB_GADGET|CONFIG_USB_PHY|CONFIG_USB_SERIAL|CONFIG_USB_SUPPORT' /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

lsmod | grep -w usbserial

Prints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.

bookwormMnot built on amd64/amd64, amd64/cloud-amd64, amd64/rt/amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, i386/686, i386/686-pae, i386/rt/686-pae, ppc64el/powerpc64le
trixieMnot built on amd64/amd64, amd64/cloud-amd64, amd64/rt/amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, armel/rpi, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, s390x/s390x
forky, sidMnot built on amd64/amd64, amd64/cloud-amd64, amd64/rt-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, loong64/loong64, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, s390x/s390x

M: a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it

Build switches: CONFIG_OF, CONFIG_PCI, CONFIG_USB, CONFIG_USB_GADGET, CONFIG_USB_PHY, CONFIG_USB_SERIAL, CONFIG_USB_SUPPORT
Reads as: all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.

From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Debian tracker CVE record NVD kernel CNA record

Signals

Published: 2026-10-18 (today)source
CVSS: no vector published, unrated
Attack vector: not published
EPSS: not scored
CISA KEV: not listedthe KEV catalogue
Debian urgency: not yet assignedsource
Subsystem: drivers/usb

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

Introduced	Fixed in	Commit
2.6.26	6.12.113	ae0da9a5c1ca
2.6.26	6.18.56	4597ddd6168a
2.6.26	7.2.10	7912a95d1345
2.6.26	7.3	ae0e61d95677

Why the CNA scored it this way

The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2026-98695, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.