VulnerabilityPublished 19 Jul 2026

CVE-2026-63883: Linux kernel · serial: qcom_geni: fix kfifo underflow when flush precedes DMA completion IRQ

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.3High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 6% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Jul 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-rjh6-3wfg-m2hh

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to address this race condition by modifying the DMA completion handler logic. Users should update to a Linux kernel version that includes this fix once available. Since this is a kernel-level issue, applying the official kernel patch or upgrading to a fixed kernel release is the recommended remediation. Patch status is not explicitly confirmed in the provided data; check the vendor or Linux kernel advisories for the exact fixed versions and patch availability.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: qcom_geni: fix kfifo underflow when flush precedes DMA completion IRQ When uart_flush_buffer() runs before the DMA completion IRQ is delivered, the following race can occur (all steps serialized by uart_port_lock): 1. DMA starts: tx_remaining = N, kfifo contains N bytes 2. DMA completes in hardware; IRQ is pending but not yet delivered 3. uart_flush_buffer() acquires the port lock and calls kfifo_reset(), making kfifo_len() = 0 while tx_remaining remains N 4. uart_flush_buffer() releases the port lock 5. DMA IRQ fires; handle_tx_dma() acquires the port lock and calls uart_xmit_advance(uport, tx_remaining) on an empty kfifo uart_xmit_advance() increments kfifo->out by tx_remaining. Since kfifo_reset() already set both in and out to 0, out wraps past in, causing kfifo_len() to return UART_XMIT_SIZE - tx_remaining. The next start_tx_dma() call then submits a DMA transfer of stale buffer data. Fix this by snapshotting kfifo_len() at the start of handle_tx_dma() and skipping uart_xmit_advance() when fifo_len < tx_remaining, which indicates the kfifo was reset by a preceding flush.

Impact

The vulnerability could cause stale buffer data to be retransmitted over the serial interface, potentially leading to data corruption or unexpected behavior in systems relying on the Qualcomm GENI serial driver. There is no indication of remote code execution or privilege escalation. No known exploits are reported in the wild.

Summary

The Linux kernel's qcom_geni serial driver had a race condition triggered when uart_flush_buffer() was called before the DMA completion IRQ. This caused the kfifo buffer to be reset while tx_remaining still indicated data pending transmission. When the DMA IRQ fired, uart_xmit_advance() incorrectly incremented the kfifo output pointer, wrapping it past the input pointer and causing kfifo_len() to return an incorrect length. Consequently, stale data could be retransmitted in subsequent DMA transfers. The patch fixes this by snapshotting the kfifo length at the start of the DMA handler and skipping uart_xmit_advance() if the fifo length is less than tx_remaining, indicating a reset occurred.

References

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