Bug 2536196 (CVE-2026-90338) - CVE-2026-90338 kernel: serial: amba-pl011: keep console clock enabled for atomic writes
Summary: CVE-2026-90338 kernel: serial: amba-pl011: keep console clock enabled for ato...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-90338
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-17 16:45 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-13 14:28 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 16:45:33 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

serial: amba-pl011: keep console clock enabled for atomic writes

pl011_console_write_atomic() runs from nbcon atomic context, where
sleeping is not allowed. It calls clk_enable(), which takes the common-clk
enable_lock. Under PREEMPT_RT that is a sleeping lock:
clk_enable_lock() first tries spin_trylock_irqsave(), but on contention
falls back to spin_lock_irqsave(). Therefore, an atomic-context printk on
an RT kernel with a clk-backed pl011 can trip:

  BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at spinlock_rt.c:48
    __might_resched from rt_spin_lock
    rt_spin_lock from clk_enable_lock
    clk_enable_lock from clk_enable
    clk_enable from pl011_console_write_atomic
    ... from vprintk_emit

This was found and reproduced on PREEMPT_RT. Arm32 and arm64 DT SoCs are
affected; arm64 SBSA/ACPI has no clk, so clk_enable(NULL) short-circuits
before the lock. In addition, write_atomic() may be invoked from NMI
context and is documented to avoid locking. Removing clk_enable() from
the callback also avoids a potentially unsafe NMI acquisition of the
common-clock enable_lock.

An nbcon atomic-capable console must be printable from any context, so
the clock cannot be gated between writes. Enable the clock while the
console is available for output: use clk_prepare_enable() in
pl011_console_setup(), release it via clk_disable_unprepare() in the
console .exit() callback, and drop the per-write clk_enable()/clk_disable()
pairs from write_atomic() and write_thread().

When printk suspends consoles, drop the reference after
uart_suspend_port() stops console access and restore it before
uart_resume_port() -- but only if suspend actually marked the port
suspended (a wake-capable tty stays running and must keep its clock), and
keep it when console_suspend_enabled is false so no_console_suspend works.

The active power cost of keeping the clock enabled is platform-dependent:
none where the UART clock is a fixed always-on oscillator, real where it
is a gateable clock branch, which then cannot be gated (nor possibly can
its parent clocks) while the console is available for output. When serial
core actually suspends the port, the reference is released so the clock
provider can gate the clock tree.


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