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CVE-2026-53229
net/mlx5e: xsk: Fix DMA and xdp_frame leak on XDP_TX xmit failure
Published 2026-06-25 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-53229 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | vulnerable | 6.1.190-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.94-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.94-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.13-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.13-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
In the XSK branch of mlx5e_xmit_xdp_buff(), when sq->xmit_xdp_frame() returns false (e.g. XDPSQ is full), the function returns without unmapping the DMA address or freeing the xdp_frame allocated by xdp_convert_zc_to_xdp_frame(). The xdpi_fifo push only happens on success, so the completion path cannot recover these entries. With CONFIG_DMA_API_DEBUG=y, the leak surfaces on driver unbind: DMA-API: pci 0000:08:00.0: device driver has pending DMA allocations while released from device [count=1116] One of leaked entries details: [device address=0x000000010ffd7028] [size=1534 bytes] [mapped with DMA_TO_DEVICE] [mapped as phy] WARNING: kernel/dma/debug.c:881 at dma_debug_device_change+0x127/0x180 ... DMA-API: Mapped at: debug_dma_map_phys+0x4b/0xd0 dma_map_phys+0xfd/0x2d0 mlx5e_xdp_handle+0x5ae/0xac0 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_xsk_skb_from_cqe_mpwrq_linear+0xc4/0x170 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq+0xc1/0x290 [mlx5_core] Add the missing unmap + xdp_return_frame, matching the cleanup already done in mlx5e_xdp_xmit(). has_frags is rejected earlier in this branch, so no per-frag unmap is needed.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/xdp.c
- What this is
- MELLANOX MLX5 core VPI driverMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/ · netdev@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Not established. This site could not find the build rule for the affected file in the kernel trees Debian ships, so it has no answer about whether Debian compiles this code. Read that as unknown, never as absent.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid?
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS
Signals
- Published
- 2026-06-25 (4 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.5 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- network (AV:N)source
- EPSS
- 0.44%, higher than 36.8% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | 6.12.94 | 7b3eeba50fbc |
| 5.3 | 6.18.36 | 2789b74ae1f4 |
| 5.3 | 7.0.13 | 0aabca726b43 |
| 5.3 | 7.1 | b69004f5a6ad |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:NAttack vector, network
- Remote packets received by an mlx5 interface can traverse the NAPI RX/CQE path into the XSK receive helper and `XDP_TX` transmit path. In a plausible AF_XDP zero-copy/XDP_TX deployment, the attacker only needs to send network traffic to the affected interface.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- Once the victim has the affected XDP/AF_XDP configuration, the failure condition is reliably reachable by driving the XDP transmit queue full or otherwise causing transmit rejection. There is no attacker-uncontrolled race or memory-layout dependency.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- The packet-triggering path requires no authentication or attacker privileges after the victim system is configured. Loading the XDP program and binding the XSK pool are administrative setup prerequisites, not privileges held by the remote packet sender.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim user action is needed for each trigger. Packets are processed automatically by the NIC driver receive path.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The bug leaks kernel/driver resources within the same kernel security authority. It does not provide a VM escape, sandbox escape, or IOMMU/DMA boundary bypass.
- C:NConfidentiality impact, none
- The leaked `xdp_frame` page and DMA mapping are not exposed back to the attacker and are not freed for attacker-controlled reuse. The bug is a resource leak, not an information disclosure primitive.
- I:NIntegrity impact, none
- The failure path does not corrupt memory or create an arbitrary write primitive. The transmit WQE is not successfully queued, and the missing operation is cleanup only.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Each failed `XDP_TX` can permanently leak an order-0 page-backed `xdp_frame` and a DMA mapping, and unauthenticated network traffic can repeat this in a high-rate XDP deployment. Sustained triggering can exhaust kernel memory or DMA/IOMMU resources and disrupt the NIC or host.