CVE-2021-47438: net/mlx5e: Fix memory leak in mlx5_core_destroy_cq() error path

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 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: 2024-05-22 · updated 2026-08-04
Weakness: CWE-401

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Fix memory leak in mlx5_core_destroy_cq() error path Prior to this patch in case mlx5_core_destroy_cq() failed it returns without completing all destroy operations and that leads to memory leak. Instead, complete the destroy flow before return error. Also move mlx5_debug_cq_remove() to the beginning of mlx5_core_destroy_cq() to be symmetrical with mlx5_core_create_cq(). kmemleak complains on: unreferenced object 0xc000000038625100 (size 64): comm "ethtool", pid 28301, jiffies 4298062946 (age 785.380s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 60 01 48 94 00 00 00 c0 b8 05 34 c3 00 00 00 c0 `.H.......4..... 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 db 7d c1 00 00 00 c0 ..........}..... backtrace: [<000000009e8643cb>] add_res_tree+0xd0/0x270 [mlx5_core] [<00000000e7cb8e6c>] mlx5_debug_cq_add+0x5c/0xc0 [mlx5_core] [<000000002a12918f>] mlx5_core_create_cq+0x1d0/0x2d0 [mlx5_core] [<00000000cef0a696>] mlx5e_create_cq+0x210/0x3f0 [mlx5_core] [<000000009c642c26>] mlx5e_open_cq+0xb4/0x130 [mlx5_core] [<0000000058dfa578>] mlx5e_ptp_open+0x7f4/0xe10 [mlx5_core] [<0000000081839561>] mlx5e_open_channels+0x9cc/0x13e0 [mlx5_core] [<0000000009cf05d4>] mlx5e_switch_priv_channels+0xa4/0x230 [mlx5_core] [<0000000042bbedd8>] mlx5e_safe_switch_params+0x14c/0x300 [mlx5_core] [<0000000004bc9db8>] set_pflag_tx_port_ts+0x9c/0x160 [mlx5_core] [<00000000a0553443>] mlx5e_set_priv_flags+0xd0/0x1b0 [mlx5_core] [<00000000a8f3d84b>] ethnl_set_privflags+0x234/0x2d0 [<00000000fd27f27c>] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0x108/0x1d0 [<00000000f495e2bb>] genl_family_rcv_msg+0xe4/0x1f0 [<00000000646c5c2c>] genl_rcv_msg+0x78/0x120 [<00000000d53e384e>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x74/0x1a0

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 3.11 before 5.10.75; from 5.11 before 5.14.14; 5.15-rc1, 5.15-rc2, 5.15-rc3, 5.15-rc4, 5.15-rc5 — fixed in 5.10.75, 5.14.14

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.75, 5.14.14. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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