CVE-2024-46703

What it actually does

The reverted change leaves a serial driver path that dereferences an uninitialized or absent power domain during suspend, resulting in a kernel crash on platforms without PM domains.

Why it matters to the business

Affected Linux systems can experience unexpected crashes when entering sleep or suspend states, causing unplanned downtime and potential loss of in-progress work on embedded and server hardware using the 8250_omap driver.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local access triggers a suspend operation on a vulnerable kernel; the faulty power-domain handling in the serial driver path leads to a kernel panic and denial of service.

How to fix it

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing commit 321aecb079e9ca8b1af90778068a6fb40f2bf22d (or the corresponding stable backport) and rebuild or install the fixed package.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm the revert commit is present in the running kernel source tree, then perform suspend/resume cycles on hardware without PM domains and verify no kernel panic occurs.

Typical attack path

1. Obtain local shell or console access
2. Initiate a system suspend via userspace tools or ACPI events
3. Trigger the serial driver suspend callback that assumes a present PM domain

How to detect it

Inspect kernel logs and dmesg output for panic or oops messages referencing serial or 8250_omap during suspend attempts on platforms lacking PM domains.

What your security team should do

• Apply the kernel fix immediately on any systems using the 8250_omap driver
• Test suspend functionality in a staging environment before broad rollout
• Review kernel logs after patching to confirm absence of related oops or panic entries