vscode: Extension host terminated unexpectedly -- also with "--disable-extensions"

Summary

VS code is unable to start the extension host – also when disabling extensions or deleting all of them manually. A reinstall or removal of the settings folder did not affect the behavior. Same problem across different users and window managers (KDE/Xfce).

Console output:

abstractExtensionService.ts:155 Extension host terminated unexpectedly. Code:  null  Signal:  SIGILL
  | _onExtensionHostCrashed | @ | abstractExtensionService.ts:155
  | _onExtensionHostCrashed | @ | extensionService.ts:375
  | _onExtensionHostCrashOrExit | @ | abstractExtensionService.ts:147
  | (anonymous) | @ | abstractExtensionService.ts:137
  | fire | @ | event.ts:581
  | _onExtHostProcessExit | @ | extensionHost.ts:469
  | (anonymous) | @ | extensionHost.ts:218
  | emit | @ | events.js:200
  | ChildProcess._handle.onexit | @ | internal/child_process.js:272

notificationsAlerts.ts:40 Extension host terminated unexpectedly.
  | onDidNotificationChange | @ | notificationsAlerts.ts:40
  | (anonymous) | @ | notificationsAlerts.ts:26
  | fire | @ | event.ts:581
  | addNotification | @ | notifications.ts:171
  | notify | @ | notificationService.ts:101
  | prompt | @ | notificationService.ts:166
  | _onExtensionHostCrashed | @ | extensionService.ts:395
  | _onExtensionHostCrashOrExit | @ | abstractExtensionService.ts:147
  | (anonymous) | @ | abstractExtensionService.ts:137
  | fire | @ | event.ts:581
  | _onExtHostProcessExit | @ | extensionHost.ts:469
  | (anonymous) | @ | extensionHost.ts:218
  | emit | @ | events.js:200
  | ChildProcess._handle.onexit | @ | internal/child_process.js:272

dom.ts:216 [Violation] Added non-passive event listener to a scroll-blocking 'wheel' event. Consider marking event handler as 'passive' to make the page more responsive. See https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/5745543795965952

event.ts:19 [Violation] Added non-passive event listener to a scroll-blocking 'touchstart' event. Consider marking event handler as 'passive' to make the page more responsive. See https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/5745543795965952

extensionHost.ts:203 Extension Host
extensionHost.ts:204 
#
# Fatal error in , line 0
# ignored
#
#FailureMessage Object: 0x7ffd8c886e80

Unfortunately VS Code logs do not contain any useful information; there’s also no “exthost” file.

System environment

Version: 1.41.1 Commit: 26076a4de974ead31f97692a0d32f90d735645c0 Date: 2019-12-18T15:04:31.999Z Electron: 6.1.5 Chrome: 76.0.3809.146 Node.js: 12.4.0 V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0 OS: Linux x64 5.3.0-3-amd64 – Debian sid