CVE-2023-53105: net/mlx5e: Fix cleanup null-ptr deref on encap lock

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: 2025-05-02 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Fix cleanup null-ptr deref on encap lock During module is unloaded while a peer tc flow is still offloaded, first the peer uplink rep profile is changed to a nic profile, and so neigh encap lock is destroyed. Next during unload, the VF reps netdevs are unregistered which causes the original non-peer tc flow to be deleted, which deletes the peer flow. The peer flow deletion detaches the encap entry and try to take the already destroyed encap lock, causing the below trace. Fix this by clearing peer flows during tc eswitch cleanup (mlx5e_tc_esw_cleanup()). Relevant trace: [ 4316.837128] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000001d8 [ 4316.842239] RIP: 0010:__mutex_lock+0xb5/0xc40 [ 4316.851897] Call Trace: [ 4316.852481] <TASK> [ 4316.857214] mlx5e_rep_neigh_entry_release+0x93/0x790 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.858258] mlx5e_rep_encap_entry_detach+0xa7/0xf0 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.859134] mlx5e_encap_dealloc+0xa3/0xf0 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.859867] clean_encap_dests.part.0+0x5c/0xe0 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.860605] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x32a/0x810 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.862609] __mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peer_flow+0x1a2/0x250 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.863394] mlx5e_tc_del_flow+0x(/0x630 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.864090] mlx5e_flow_put+0x5f/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.864771] mlx5e_delete_flower+0x4de/0xa40 [mlx5_core] [ 4316.865486] tc_setup_cb_reoffload+0x20/0x80 [ 4316.865905] fl_reoffload+0x47c/0x510 [cls_flower] [ 4316.869181] tcf_block_playback_offloads+0x91/0x1d0 [ 4316.869649] tcf_block_unbind+0xe7/0x1b0 [ 4316.870049] tcf_block_offload_cmd.isra.0+0x1ee/0x270 [ 4316.879266] tcf_block_offload_unbind+0x61/0xa0 [ 4316.879711] __tcf_block_put+0xa4/0x310

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.0 before 6.1.21; from 6.2 before 6.2.8; 6.3-rc1, 6.3-rc2 — fixed in 6.1.21, 6.2.8

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.1.21, 6.2.8. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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