In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register serial8250_register_8250_port() conditionally copies uart->port.dev from up->port.dev only when up->port.dev is non-NULL: if (up->port.dev) { uart->port.dev = up->port.dev; ... } So if both the existing uart slot and up have a NULL ->dev, uart->port.dev remains NULL. The very next ACPI companion check then dereferences it unconditionally: if (!has_acpi_companion(uart->port.dev)) { has_acpi_companion() reads dev->fwnode without a NULL guard (include/linux/acpi.h), so this NULL-derefs the kernel for the remaining no-dev case rather than just skipping the mctrl_gpio_init() initialisation as intended. smatch flags the inconsistency: drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_core.c:767 serial8250_register_8250_port() error: 'uart->port.dev' could be null (see line 719) Guard the call with a NULL check so register continues to work for callers that legitimately have no parent device (legacy non-OF/non-ACPI registrations). No functional change for callers that pass a non-NULL ->dev.

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

  - tty: serial: 8250: protect against NULL uart->port.dev in register serial8250_register_8250_port()     conditionally copies uart->port.dev from up->port.dev only when up->port.dev is non-NULL: if     (up->port.dev) { uart->port.dev = up->port.dev; ... } So if both the existing uart slot and up have a NULL
    ->dev, uart->port.dev remains NULL. The very next ACPI companion check then dereferences it     unconditionally: if (!has_acpi_companion(uart->port.dev)) { has_acpi_companion() reads dev->fwnode without     a NULL guard (include/linux/acpi.h), so this NULL-derefs the kernel for the remaining no-dev case rather     than just skipping the mctrl_gpio_init() initialisation as intended. smatch flags the inconsistency:
    drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_core.c:767 serial8250_register_8250_port() error: 'uart->port.dev' could be     null (see line 719) Guard the call with a NULL check so register continues to work for callers that     legitimately have no parent device (legacy non-OF/non-ACPI registrations). No functional change for     callers that pass a non-NULL ->dev. (CVE-2026-97480)

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
377900	Amazon Linux 2023 : bpftool6.12, kernel6.12, kernel6.12-devel (ALAS2023-2026-3402)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
376443	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-8959-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	Local	high
365258	Amazon Linux 2023 : bpftool6.18, kernel6.18, kernel6.18-devel (ALAS2023-2026-3192)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
350074	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-97480	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium

Detections

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CVE-2026-97480

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Tenable Plugins

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