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CVE-2026-64210
net/mlx5e: xsk: Fix unlocked writing to ICOSQ
Published 2026-07-24 (3 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-2026-64210 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 | fixedDLA-4841-1 · 2026-10-17 · text | 6.1.190-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4841-1 shipped the fix on 2026-10-17, in 6.1.190-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixedDSA-6528-1 · 2026-09-29 · text | 6.12.111-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DSA-6528-1 shipped the fix on 2026-09-29, in 6.12.111-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 12bookworm · linux-6.12 | fixedDLA-4817-1 · 2026-10-04 · text | 6.12.111-1~deb12u1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4817-1 shipped the fix on 2026-10-04, in 6.12.111-1~deb12u1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
During napi poll, when the affinity changes and there's still XSK work to be done, we trigger an ICOSQ interrupt on the new CPU. However, this triggering on the ICOSQ is done unprotected. There are 2 such races: A) mlx5e_trigger_irq() is called while mlx5e_xsk_alloc_rx_mpwqe() is running from a different CPU due to affinity change. This can happen because IRQ triggering is done after napi_complete_done(). At this point the NAPI can be scheduled on a different CPU. Like this: CPU A (old affinity, NAPI tail) CPU B (new affinity, fresh NAPI) ------------------------------- -------------------------------- napi_complete_done() clears SCHED mlx5e_cq_arm(...) napi_schedule_prep() sets SCHED mlx5e_napi_poll() mlx5e_xsk_alloc_rx_mpwqe() mlx5e_icosq_sync_lock() // noop memcpy 640 B UMR body advance sq->pc by 10 mlx5e_trigger_irq(&c->icosq) wqe_info[pi] = {NOP, 1} mlx5e_post_nop() advances sq->pc B) mlx5e_trigger_irq() is called on the ICOSQ when mlx5e_trigger_napi_icosq() is running. The obvious fix would be to lock the ICOSQ. But ICOSQ has an optimized locking scheme that doesn't work for this scenario. Kick the async ICOSQ instead which is always locked. This issue was noticed in the wild with the following splat: netdevice: ge-0-0-1: Bad OP in ICOSQ CQE: 0xd WARNING: drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_rx.c:826 [...] [...] Call Trace: <IRQ> mlx5e_napi_poll+0x11d/0x7f0 [mlx5_core] __napi_poll+0x30/0x200 ? skb_defer_free_flush+0x9c/0xc0 net_rx_action+0x2fe/0x3f0 handle_softirqs+0xd8/0x340 __irq_exit_rcu+0xbc/0xe0 common_interrupt+0x85/0xa0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_common_interrupt+0x26/0x40 [...] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- mlx5_core 0000:08:00.0 ge-0-0-1: Error cqe on cqn 0x548, ci 0x2022, qn 0x8f4, opcode 0xd, syndrome 0x2, vendor syndrome 0x68 00000000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000030: 00 00 00 00 01 00 68 02 01 00 08 f4 de 14 59 d2 WQE DUMP: WQ size 16384 WQ cur size 0, WQE index 0x1e14, len: 64 00000000: 00 00 00 01 d9 ed 80 02 00 00 00 01 d9 ed 90 02 00000010: 00 00 00 01 d9 ed a0 02 00 00 00 01 d9 ed b0 02 00000020: 00 00 00 01 d9 ed c0 02 00 00 00 01 d9 ed d0 02 00000030: 00 00 00 01 d9 ed e0 02 00 00 00 01 d9 ed f0 02 mlx5_core 0000:08:00.0 ge-0-0-1: Error cqe on cqn 0x548, ci 0x2023, qn 0x8f4, opcode 0xd, syndrome 0x5, vendor syndrome 0xf9 00000000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000030: 00 00 00 00 01 00 f9 05 01 00 08 f4 de 15 cf d2
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_txrx.c
- What this is
- MELLANOX ETHERNET DRIVER (mlx5e)MAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_* · netdev@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- mlx5_core
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ETHERNET|CONFIG_MLX5_CORE|CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN|CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_MELLANOX' /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.
lsmod | grep -w mlx5_corePrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookwormm
- trixieMnot built on armel/rpi
- forky, sid, bookworm · linux-6.12m
- m
- a loadable module on every flavour - check lsmod, can be blacklisted
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ETHERNET, CONFIG_MLX5_CORE, CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN, CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_MELLANOX
- 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
- 2026-07-24 (3 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
- 0.48%, higher than 39.9% 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 | 6.1.188 | 0c8f33148565 |
| 5.3 | 6.6.157 | f3d8c2fd591b |
| 5.3 | 6.12.110 | f37adef34eb7 |
| 5.3 | 6.18.52 | 54a97ef10252 |
| 5.3 | 7.0.11 | 8d3b91e7d810 |
| 5.3 | 7.1 | c326f9c68921 |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4841-1 | 2026-10-17 | bookworm 6.1.190-1 | tracker |
| DLA-4817-1 | 2026-10-04 | bookworm 6.12.111-1~deb12u1 | tracker |
| DSA-6528-1 | 2026-09-29 | trixie 6.12.111-1 | tracker |
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
- On an internet-facing mlx5 interface using zero-copy AF_XDP, unauthenticated packets drive NIC completions into mlx5e_napi_poll and can keep XSK work busy while another NAPI run starts. AF_XDP/XDP setup is a victim-side deployment prerequisite.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- Sustained traffic in a multicore busy-polling or IRQ-balanced deployment can repeatedly produce overlapping NAPI runs after napi_complete_done(). The attacker can retry until the shared-ICOSQ producer and descriptor race is hit.
- PR:NPrivileges required, none
- The remote sender needs no account, authentication, or capability. CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN are required only by the victim-side process or administrator configuring AF_XDP/XDP.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- After the network service is configured, packets automatically trigger the completion, NAPI, XSK refill, and ICOSQ paths without user action.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The corrupted ICOSQ and affected receive queues remain within the host kernel and mlx5 device security authority, without crossing a VM, IOMMU, or other scope boundary.
- C:NConfidentiality impact, none
- The race corrupts kernel-constructed queue descriptors and producer metadata but provides no path that returns host memory to the attacker or supplies an arbitrary-read primitive.
- I:NIntegrity impact, none
- The competing writes contain only kernel-constructed NOP and registered UMR data; no attacker-selected host address or persistent protected-data modification is established.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The race can produce malformed ICOSQ work requests, error CQEs, queue shutdown and recovery, or an oops from inconsistent software metadata. Repeated triggering can keep the receive path and associated network service unavailable.