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CVE-2026-53300
net: enetc: fix NTMP DMA use-after-free issue
Published 2026-06-26 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-53300 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 | not affected | 6.1.190-1 | Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 13trixie | not affected | 6.12.113-1 | Nothing to do. trixie never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.10-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.10-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
The AI-generated review reported a potential DMA use-after-free issue [1]. If netc_xmit_ntmp_cmd() times out and returns an error, the pending command is not explicitly aborted, while ntmp_free_data_mem() unconditionally frees the DMA buffer. If the buffer has already been reallocated elsewhere, this may lead to silent memory corruption. Because the hardware eventually processes the pending command and perform a DMA write of the response to the physical address of the freed buffer. To resolve this issue, this patch does the following modifications: 1. Convert cbdr->ring_lock from a spinlock to a mutex The lock was originally a spinlock in case NTMP operations might be invoked from atomic context. After downstream support for all NTMP tables, no such usage has materialized. A mutex lock is now required because the driver now needs to reclaim used BDs and release associated DMA memory within the lock's context, while dma_free_coherent() might sleep. 2. Introduce software command BD (struct netc_swcbd) The hardware write-back overwrites the addr and len fields of the BD, so the driver cannot rely on the hardware BD to free the associated DMA memory. The driver now maintains a software shadow BD storing the DMA buffer pointer, DMA address, and size. And netc_xmit_ntmp_cmd() only reclaims older BDs when the number of used BDs reaches NETC_CBDR_CLEAN_WORK (16). The software BD enables correct DMA memory release. With this, struct ntmp_dma_buf and ntmp_free_data_mem() are no longer needed and are removed. 3. Require callers to hold ring_lock across netc_xmit_ntmp_cmd() netc_xmit_ntmp_cmd() releases the ring_lock before the caller finishes consuming the response. At this point, if a concurrent thread submits a new command, it may trigger ntmp_clean_cbdr() and free the DMA buffer while it is still in use. Move ring_lock ownership to the caller to ensure the response buffer cannot be reclaimed prematurely. So the helpers ntmp_select_and_lock_cbdr() and ntmp_unlock_cbdr() are added. These changes eliminate the DMA use-after-free condition and ensure safe and consistent BD reclamation and DMA buffer lifecycle management.
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/freescale/enetc/ntmp.c
drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/ntmp_private.h
include/linux/fsl/ntmp.h
- What this is
- FREESCALE ENETC ETHERNET DRIVERSMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/ · imx@lists.linux.dev · Maintained
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ETHERNET|CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_FREESCALE|CONFIG_NXP_NETC_LIB' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian does not build this code in 2 releases. The build rule could not be established for 2 releases, so nothing is claimed about those.
- bookworm, trixie?
- forky, sidn
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
- n
- not enabled on any flavour - this release does not build the code
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.
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ETHERNET, CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_FREESCALE, CONFIG_NXP_NETC_LIB
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
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 kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-06-26 (4 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.17%, higher than 5.8% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 6.16 | 6.18.33 | 37c8933064be |
| 6.16 | 7.0.10 | 655d9ce9b1d3 |
| 6.16 | 7.1 | 3cade698881e |
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:LAttack vector, local
- The vulnerable NTMP command path is reached through local ethtool ioctl/netlink RSS operations and driver/debugfs paths, not by processing remote network packets. A local process on a system with the affected ENETC4 device can invoke the relevant get-RSS path.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- The attacker can repeatedly drive NTMP commands through ordinary ethtool RSS queries/updates and does not need to win a race against another principal. Because this is a DMA use-after-free and uncertainty is scored toward severity, the complexity is low.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- The ethtool RSS get path is explicitly allowed to unprivileged local users and reaches `ntmp_rsst_query_entry`; set paths require CAP_NET_ADMIN but are not needed. This requires basic local execution, so it is PR:L under the provided rubric.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim action is required once the attacker has local execution. The attacker directly invokes the ioctl/netlink operation.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The corruption affects kernel/driver-managed host memory within the same security authority. This is not a VM escape or separate IOMMU protection-domain bypass.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The bug is a DMA use-after-free: after timeout the hardware may write a response to memory that has been freed and reallocated. Such kernel memory corruption is treated as capable of enabling information disclosure.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The stale DMA write can corrupt reallocated kernel memory, potentially altering kernel data structures or enabling code execution. Per the UAF guidance, integrity impact is high.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The same freed-memory DMA write can cause kernel memory corruption, oops, panic, or device/driver instability. Repeated triggering can therefore produce high availability impact.