Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2026-23035

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Jan 31, 2026

CISA due date

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Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A flaw in Linux network drivers can make the computer crash when certain network configuration changes fail.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Memory Corruption
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

NULL pointer dereference in mlx5e_remove triggered when profile attachment fails during switchdev mode transition or devlink reload, causing kernel oops due to unstable mlx5e_priv structure being zeroed.

Why it matters to the business

Unexpected kernel crashes on systems using Mellanox mlx5 network adapters during network device profile changes or reloads, leading to downtime and potential loss of connectivity on affected Linux hosts; low exploitation probability but high impact on stability for high-availability environments.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local privileges or control over devlink operations triggers a failed profile change (such as setting eswitch to switchdev mode) which leaves the driver in an inconsistent state; subsequent device removal or reload then dereferences a NULL pointer in mlx5e_dcbnl_dscp_app, crashing the kernel.

How to fix it

Update the Linux kernel to the commit a7625bacaa8c8c2bfcde6dd6d1397bd63ad82b02 or later stable releases containing the fix that passes netdev instead of priv to mlx5e_destroy_netdev and adds profile validity checks before cleanup.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm the running kernel contains commit a7625bacaa8c8c2bfcde6dd6d1397bd63ad82b02; attempt the failing devlink sequence in a test environment and verify no oops occurs; inspect dmesg for absence of mlx5e_netdev_init_profile failures leading to crashes.

Typical attack path

  1. Obtain local access or devlink privileges on a system with mlx5 hardware
  2. Issue devlink commands that force profile initialization failure (e.g., switchdev mode set under memory pressure)
  3. Trigger devlink reload or device removal path
  4. Kernel oops occurs due to invalid priv pointer

How to detect it

Search kernel logs and dmesg for strings indicating mlx5e_priv_init failure followed by devlink reload attempts and NULL pointer dereference in mlx5e_dcbnl_dscp_app or mlx5e_remove; correlate with workqueue rescuer kthread creation failures for mlx5e.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel updates on all systems exposing mlx5 adapters to production workloads
  • Restrict unprivileged devlink access via policy until patched
  • Monitor for kernel oops reports involving mlx5e_remove in logs
  • Test devlink reload and switchdev transitions after patching

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Pass netdev to mlx5e_destroy_netdev instead of priv mlx5e_priv is an unstable structure that can be memset(0) if profile attaching fails. Pass netdev to mlx5e_destroy_netdev() to guarantee it will work on a valid netdev. On mlx5e_remove: Check validity of priv->profile, before attempting to cleanup any resources that might be not there. This fixes a kernel oops in mlx5e_remove when switchdev mode fails due to change profile failure. $ devlink dev eswitch set pci/0000:00:03.0 mode switchdev Error: mlx5_core: Failed setting eswitch to offloads. dmesg: workqueue: Failed to create a rescuer kthread for wq "mlx5e": -EINTR mlx5_core 0012:03:00.1: mlx5e_netdev_init_profile:6214:(pid 37199): mlx5e_priv_init failed, err=-12 mlx5_core 0012:03:00.1 gpu3rdma1: mlx5e_netdev_change_profile: new profile init failed, -12 workqueue: Failed to create a rescuer kthread for wq "mlx5e": -EINTR mlx5_core 0012:03:00.1: mlx5e_netdev_init_profile:6214:(pid 37199): mlx5e_priv_init failed, err=-12 mlx5_core 0012:03:00.1 gpu3rdma1: mlx5e_netdev_change_profile: failed to rollback to orig profile, -12 $ devlink dev reload pci/0000:00:03.0 ==> oops BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000370 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 15 UID: 0 PID: 520 Comm: devlink Not tainted 6.18.0-rc5+ #115 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-2.fc40 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:mlx5e_dcbnl_dscp_app+0x23/0x100 RSP: 0018:ffffc9000083f8b8 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: ffff8881126fc380 RBX: ffff8881015ac400 RCX: ffffffff826ffc45 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffff8881035109c0 RBP: ffff8881035109c0 R08: ffff888101e3e838 R09: ffff888100264e10 R10: ffffc9000083f898 R11: ffffc9000083f8a0 R12: ffff888101b921a0 R13: ffff888101b921a0 R14: ffff8881015ac9a0 R15: ffff8881015ac400 FS: 00007f789a3c8740(0000) GS:ffff88856aa59000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000370 CR3: 000000010b6c0001 CR4: 0000000000370ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> mlx5e_remove+0x57/0x110 device_release_driver_internal+0x19c/0x200 bus_remove_device+0xc6/0x130 device_del+0x160/0x3d0 ? devl_param_driverinit_value_get+0x2d/0x90 mlx5_detach_device+0x89/0xe0 mlx5_unload_one_devl_locked+0x3a/0x70 mlx5_devlink_reload_down+0xc8/0x220 devlink_reload+0x7d/0x260 devlink_nl_reload_doit+0x45b/0x5a0 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xe8/0x140

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Linux Kernel 5.12.0 6.12.67
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 dtb-aarch64 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-64kb 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-azure 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default-base 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1.160000.2.8
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-docs 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-build 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-rt 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-source 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-syms 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.12.0-160000.27.1

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