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

The remote SUSE Linux SLES12 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:2068-1 advisory.

    The SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5 kernel was updated to fix various security issues

    The following security issues were fixed:

    - CVE-2022-50053: iavf: Fix reset error handling (bsc#1245038).
    - CVE-2023-20585: x86/CPU: Fix FPDSS on Zen1. (bsc#1243603).
    - CVE-2024-50082: blk-rq-qos: fix crash on rq_qos_wait vs. rq_qos_wake_function race (bsc#1232500     bsc#1262778).
    - CVE-2025-68185: nfs4_setup_readdir(): insufficient locking for ->d_parent->d_inode dereferencing     (bsc#1255135).
    - CVE-2025-71118: ACPICA: Avoid walking the Namespace if start_node is NULL (bsc#1256763).
    - CVE-2025-71238: scsi: qla2xxx: Fix bsg_done() causing double free (bsc#1259186).
    - CVE-2026-23193: scsi: target: iscsi: Fix use-after-free in iscsit_dec_session_usage_count()     (bsc#1258414).
    - CVE-2026-23216: scsi: target: iscsi: Fix use-after-free in iscsit_dec_conn_usage_count() (bsc#1258447).
    - CVE-2026-23276: net: add xmit recursion limit to tunnel xmit functions (bsc#1260012).
    - CVE-2026-23290: net: usb: pegasus: validate USB endpoints (bsc#1260533).
    - CVE-2026-23292: scsi: target: Fix recursive locking in __configfs_open_file() (bsc#1260500).
    - CVE-2026-23293: net: vxlan: fix nd_tbl NULL dereference when IPv6 is disabled (bsc#1260486).
    - CVE-2026-23312: net: usb: kaweth: validate USB endpoints (bsc#1260561).
    - CVE-2026-23340: net: sched: avoid qdisc_reset_all_tx_gt() vs dequeue race for lockless qdiscs     (bsc#1260523).
    - CVE-2026-23378: act_ife: load meta modules before tcf_idr_check_alloc() (bsc#1260546).
    - CVE-2026-23391: netfilter: xt_CT: drop pending enqueued packets on template removal (bsc#1260566).
    - CVE-2026-23442: ipv6: add NULL checks for idev in SRv6 paths (bsc#1261581).
    - CVE-2026-23449: net/sched: teql: Fix double-free in teql_master_xmit (bsc#1261779).
    - CVE-2026-23455: netfilter: nf_conntrack_h323: check for zero length in DecodeQ931() (bsc#1261687).
    - CVE-2026-23456: netfilter: nf_conntrack_h323: fix OOB read in decode_int() CONS case (bsc#1261703).
    - CVE-2026-23457: netfilter: nf_conntrack_sip: fix Content-Length u32 truncation in sip_help_tcp()     (bsc#1261686).
    - CVE-2026-23458: netfilter: ctnetlink: fix use-after-free in ctnetlink_dump_exp_ct() (bsc#1261781).
    - CVE-2026-23461: Bluetooth: L2CAP: Fix use-after-free in l2cap_unregister_user (bsc#1261707).
    - CVE-2026-23462: Bluetooth: HIDP: Fix possible UAF (bsc#1261710).
    - CVE-2026-23468: drm/amdgpu: Limit BO list entry count to prevent resource exhaustion (bsc#1261692).
    - CVE-2026-23472: serial: core: fix infinite loop in handle_tx() for PORT_UNKNOWN (bsc#1261636).
    - CVE-2026-31393: Bluetooth: L2CAP: Validate L2CAP_INFO_RSP payload length before access (bsc#1261719).
    - CVE-2026-31400: sunrpc: fix cache_request leak in cache_release (bsc#1261645).
    - CVE-2026-31402: nfsd: fix heap overflow in NFSv4.0 LOCK replay cache (bsc#1261638).
    - CVE-2026-31403: NFSD: Hold net reference for the lifetime of /proc/fs/nfs/exports fd (bsc#1261796).
    - CVE-2026-31407: netfilter: conntrack: add missing netlink policy validations (bsc#1261632).
    - CVE-2026-31408: Bluetooth: SCO: Fix use-after-free in sco_recv_frame() due to missing sock_hold     (bsc#1261797).
    - CVE-2026-31411: net: atm: fix crash due to unvalidated vcc pointer in sigd_send() (bsc#1261752).
    - CVE-2026-31416: netfilter: nfnetlink_log: account for netlink header size (bsc#1262100).
    - CVE-2026-31422: net/sched: cls_flow: fix NULL pointer dereference on shared blocks (bsc#1262054).
    - CVE-2026-31423: net/sched: sch_hfsc: fix divide-by-zero in rtsc_min() (bsc#1262063).
    - CVE-2026-31424: netfilter: x_tables: restrict xt_check_match/xt_check_target extensions for NFPROTO_ARP     (bsc#1262053).
    - CVE-2026-31425: rds: ib: reject FRMR registration before IB connection is established (bsc#1262074).
    - CVE-2026-31427: netfilter: nf_conntrack_sip: fix use of uninitialized rtp_addr in process_sdp     (bsc#1262086).
    - CVE-2026-31428: netfilter: nfnetlink_log: fix uninitialized padding leak in NFULA_PAYLOAD (bsc#1262087).
    - CVE-2026-31496: netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: skip expectations in other netns via proc (bsc#1262673).
    - CVE-2026-31504: net: fix fanout UAF in packet_release() via NETDEV_UP race (bsc#1263085).
    - CVE-2026-31507: net/smc: fix double-free of smc_spd_priv when tee() duplicates splice pipe buffer     (bsc#1263095).
    - CVE-2026-31512: Bluetooth: L2CAP: Validate PDU length before reading SDU length in     l2cap_ecred_data_rcv()       (bsc#1262734).
    - CVE-2026-31524: HID: asus: avoid memory leak in asus_report_fixup() (bsc#1262605).
    - CVE-2026-31602: ALSA: ctxfi: Limit PTP to a single page (bsc#1263723).
    - CVE-2026-31607: usbip: validate number_of_packets in usbip_pack_ret_submit() (bsc#1263600).
    - CVE-2026-31649: net: stmmac: fix integer underflow in chain mode (bsc#1263582).
    - CVE-2026-31667: Input: uinput - fix circular locking dependency with ff-core (bsc#1263139).
    - CVE-2026-31675: net/sched: sch_netem: fix out-of-bounds access in packet corruption (bsc#1263556).
    - CVE-2026-31681: netfilter: xt_multiport: validate range encoding in checkentry (bsc#1263593).
    - CVE-2026-31685: netfilter: ip6t_eui64: reject invalid MAC header for all packets (bsc#1263668).
    - CVE-2026-31700: net/packet: fix TOCTOU race on mmap'd vnet_hdr in tpacket_snd() (bsc#1263882).
    - CVE-2026-31738: vxlan: validate ND option lengths in vxlan_na_create (bsc#1264059).
    - CVE-2026-31787: xen/privcmd: fix double free via VMA splitting (bsc#1262181).
    - CVE-2026-43025: netfilter: ctnetlink: ignore explicit helper on new expectations (bsc#1263931).
    - CVE-2026-43088: net: af_key: zero aligned sockaddr tail in PF_KEY exports (bsc#1264469).
    - CVE-2026-43110: wifi: brcmfmac: validate bsscfg indices in IF events (bsc#1264482).
    - CVE-2026-43126: ALSA: mixer: oss: Add card disconnect checkpoints (bsc#1264634).
    - CVE-2026-43190: netfilter: xt_tcpmss: check remaining length before reading optlen (bsc#1264848).
    - CVE-2026-43255: wifi: libertas: fix WARNING in usb_tx_block (bsc#1264473).
    - CVE-2026-43264: fbdev: of: display_timing: fix refcount leak in of_get_display_timings() (bsc#1264424).
    - CVE-2026-43334: Bluetooth: SMP: force responder MITM requirements before building the pairing response     (bsc#1265090).
    - CVE-2026-43437: ALSA: pcm: fix use-after-free on linked stream runtime in snd_pcm_drain() (bsc#1265126).

    The following non security issues were fixed:

    - list: add 'list_del_init_careful()' to go with 'list_empty_careful()' (bsc#1262778).
    - ocfs2: fix possible deadlock between unlink and dio_end_io_write (bsc#1258718).
    - ocfs2: split transactions in dio completion to avoid credit exhaustion (bsc#1258718).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - 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 (CVE-2026-23472)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
319659	SUSE SLES16 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2026:21845-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
318240	SUSE SLES16 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2026:21860-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
318102	openSUSE 16 Security Update : kernel (openSUSE-SU-2026:20826-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
317729	SUSE SLES12 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2026:2068-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
311340	Amazon Linux 2023 : bpftool6.18, kernel6.18, kernel6.18-devel (ALAS2023-2026-1596)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	high
304906	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23472	Nessus	Misc.	medium

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