CVE-2023-52487

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Fix peer flow lists handling The cited change refactored mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peer_flow() to only clear DUP flag when list of peer flows has become empty. However, if any concurrent user holds a reference to a peer flow (for example, the neighbor update workqueue task is updating peer flow's parent encap entry concurrently), then the flow will not be removed from the peer list and, consecutively, DUP flag will remain set. Since mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peers_flow() calls mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peer_flow() for every possible peer index the algorithm will try to remove the flow from eswitch instances that it has never peered with causing either NULL pointer dereference when trying to remove the flow peer list head of peer_index that was never initialized or a warning if the list debug config is enabled[0]. Fix the issue by always removing the peer flow from the list even when not releasing the last reference to it. [0]: [ 3102.985806] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 3102.986223] list_del corruption, ffff888139110698->next is NULL [ 3102.986757] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 22109 at lib/list_debug.c:53 __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x4f/0xc0 [ 3102.987561] Modules linked in: act_ct nf_flow_table bonding act_tunnel_key act_mirred act_skbedit vxlan cls_matchall nfnetlink_cttimeout act_gact cls_flower sch_ingress mlx5_vdpa vringh vhost_iotlb vdpa openvswitch nsh xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink iptable_nat xt_addrtype xt_conntrack nf_nat br_netfilter rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcg ss oid_registry overlay rpcrdma rdma_ucm ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm mlx5_ib ib_uverbs ib_core mlx5_core [last unloaded: bonding] [ 3102.991113] CPU: 2 PID: 22109 Comm: revalidator28 Not tainted 6.6.0-rc6+ #3 [ 3102.991695] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 3102.992605] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x4f/0xc0 [ 3102.993122] Code: 39 c2 74 56 48 8b 32 48 39 fe 75 62 48 8b 51 08 48 39 f2 75 73 b8 01 00 00 00 c3 48 89 fe 48 c7 c7 48 fd 0a 82 e8 41 0b ad ff <0f> 0b 31 c0 c3 48 89 fe 48 c7 c7 70 fd 0a 82 e8 2d 0b ad ff 0f 0b [ 3102.994615] RSP: 0018:ffff8881383e7710 EFLAGS: 00010286 [ 3102.995078] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 3102.995670] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: ffff88885f89b640 RDI: ffff88885f89b640 [ 3102.997188] DEL flow 00000000be367878 on port 0 [ 3102.998594] RBP: dead000000000122 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: c0000000ffffdfff [ 3102.999604] R10: 0000000000000008 R11: ffff8881383e7598 R12: dead000000000100 [ 3103.000198] R13: 0000000000000002 R14: ffff888139110000 R15: ffff888101901240 [ 3103.000790] FS: 00007f424cde4700(0000) GS:ffff88885f880000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 3103.001486] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 3103.001986] CR2: 00007fd42e8dcb70 CR3: 000000011e68a003 CR4: 0000000000370ea0 [ 3103.002596] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 3103.003190] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 3103.003787] Call Trace: [ 3103.004055] <TASK> [ 3103.004297] ? __warn+0x7d/0x130 [ 3103.004623] ? __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x4f/0xc0 [ 3103.005094] ? report_bug+0xf1/0x1c0 [ 3103.005439] ? console_unlock+0x4a/0xd0 [ 3103.005806] ? handle_bug+0x3f/0x70 [ 3103.006149] ? exc_invalid_op+0x13/0x60 [ 3103.006531] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 [ 3103.007430] ? __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0x4f/0xc0 [ 3103.007910] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peers_flow+0xcf/0x240 [mlx5_core] [ 3103.008463] mlx5e_tc_del_flow+0x46/0x270 [mlx5_core] [ 3103.008944] mlx5e_flow_put+0x26/0x50 [mlx5_core] [ 3103.009401] mlx5e_delete_flower+0x25f/0x380 [mlx5_core] [ 3103.009901] tc_setup_cb_destroy+0xab/0x180 [ 3103.010292] fl_hw_destroy_filter+0x99/0xc0 [cls_flower] [ 3103.010779] __fl_delete+0x2d4/0x2f0 [cls_flower] [ 3103.0 ---truncated---

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2024-03-11 18:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 06:42 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.3% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 5.5 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2024-03-11 18:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 06:42 UTC

Exploit probability

0.3% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference

Record status

Analyzed

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 6.6.15
• Linux Kernel < 6.7.3
• Linux Kernel 6.8

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.5

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

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