CVE-2021-47261: IB/mlx5: Fix initializing CQ fragments buffer

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-05-21 · updated 2026-08-04
Weakness: CWE-706

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: IB/mlx5: Fix initializing CQ fragments buffer The function init_cq_frag_buf() can be called to initialize the current CQ fragments buffer cq->buf, or the temporary cq->resize_buf that is filled during CQ resize operation. However, the offending commit started to use function get_cqe() for getting the CQEs, the issue with this change is that get_cqe() always returns CQEs from cq->buf, which leads us to initialize the wrong buffer, and in case of enlarging the CQ we try to access elements beyond the size of the current cq->buf and eventually hit a kernel panic. [exception RIP: init_cq_frag_buf+103] [ffff9f799ddcbcd8] mlx5_ib_resize_cq at ffffffffc0835d60 [mlx5_ib] [ffff9f799ddcbdb0] ib_resize_cq at ffffffffc05270df [ib_core] [ffff9f799ddcbdc0] llt_rdma_setup_qp at ffffffffc0a6a712 [llt] [ffff9f799ddcbe10] llt_rdma_cc_event_action at ffffffffc0a6b411 [llt] [ffff9f799ddcbe98] llt_rdma_client_conn_thread at ffffffffc0a6bb75 [llt] [ffff9f799ddcbec8] kthread at ffffffffa66c5da1 [ffff9f799ddcbf50] ret_from_fork_nospec_begin at ffffffffa6d95ddd Fix it by getting the needed CQE by calling mlx5_frag_buf_get_wqe() that takes the correct source buffer as a parameter.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 4.17 before 4.19.195; from 4.20 before 5.4.126; from 5.5 before 5.10.44; from 5.11 before 5.12.11; 5.13-rc1, 5.13-rc2, 5.13-rc3, 5.13-rc4, 5.13-rc5 — fixed in 4.19.195, 5.10.44, 5.12.11, 5.4.126

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.19.195, 5.10.44, 5.12.11, 5.4.126. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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