CVE-2026-97573: bnxt_en: Handle buffer allocation failure in bnxt_rx_ring_reset()

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-25 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bnxt_en: Handle buffer allocation failure in bnxt_rx_ring_reset() bnxt_rx_ring_reset() frees the ring buffers and then reallocates them, ignoring the result. bnxt_alloc_one_rx_ring() can fail in bnxt_alloc_one_tpa_info_data(), which returns -ENOMEM on the first failed allocation and leaves the remaining rxr->rx_tpa[] entries zeroed. The error isn't propagated up, so the loop in bnxt_rx_ring_reset continues and at the end the code re-enables TPA with partially unallocated rx_tpa array. This means that when the agg_id from hardware is mapped to a SW index in rxr->rx_tpa[], an uninitialized slot can be chosen which would hand a zero DMA address to the device. Fix this by falling back to a global reset, which is what the existing code already does when other functions fail, but unlike the other failure cases this particular failure has to return because TPA can't be re-enabled since the allocation failed.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 5.10 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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