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🛡️ CVE-2024-53121 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

net/mlx5: fs, lock FTE when checking if active

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/mlx5: fs, lock FTE when checking if active

The referenced commits introduced a two-step process for deleting FTEs:

  • Lock the FTE, delete it from hardware, set the hardware deletion function

to NULL and unlock the FTE.

  • Lock the parent flow group, delete the software copy of the FTE, and

remove it from the xarray.

However, this approach encounters a race condition if a rule with the same

match value is added simultaneously. In this scenario, fs_core may set the

hardware deletion function to NULL prematurely, causing a panic during

subsequent rule deletions.

To prevent this, ensure the active flag of the FTE is checked under a lock,

which will prevent the fs_core layer from attaching a new steering rule to

an FTE that is in the process of deletion.

[ 438.967589] MOSHE: 2496 mlx5_del_flow_rules del_hw_func

[ 438.968205] ------------[ cut here ]------------

[ 438.968654] refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.

[ 438.969249] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 8957 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110

[ 438.970054] Modules linked in: act_mirred cls_flower act_gact sch_ingress openvswitch nsh mlx5_vdpa vringh vhost_iotlb vdpa mlx5_ib mlx5_core xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink xt_addrtype iptable_nat nf_nat br_netfilter rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcgss oid_registry overlay rpcrdma rdma_ucm ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm ib_uverbs ib_core zram zsmalloc fuse [last unloaded: cls_flower]

[ 438.973288] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 8957 Comm: tc Not tainted 6.12.0-rc1+ #8

[ 438.973888] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014

[ 438.974874] RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110

[ 438.975363] Code: 40 66 3b 82 c6 05 16 e9 4d 01 01 e8 1f 7c a0 ff 0f 0b c3 cc cc cc cc 48 c7 c7 10 66 3b 82 c6 05 fd e8 4d 01 01 e8 05 7c a0 ff <0f> 0b c3 cc cc cc cc 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 00 90

[ 438.976947] RSP: 0018:ffff888124a53610 EFLAGS: 00010286

[ 438.977446] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888119d56de0 RCX: 0000000000000000

[ 438.978090] RDX: ffff88852c828700 RSI: ffff88852c81b3c0 RDI: ffff88852c81b3c0

[ 438.978721] RBP: ffff888120fa0e88 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff888124a534b0

[ 438.979353] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff888119d56de0

[ 438.979979] R13: ffff888120fa0ec0 R14: ffff888120fa0ee8 R15: ffff888119d56de0

[ 438.980607] FS: 00007fe6dcc0f800(0000) GS:ffff88852c800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000

[ 438.983984] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033

[ 438.984544] CR2: 00000000004275e0 CR3: 0000000186982001 CR4: 0000000000372eb0

[ 438.985205] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000

[ 438.985842] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400

[ 438.986507] Call Trace:

[ 438.986799] <TASK>

[ 438.987070] ? __warn+0x7d/0x110

[ 438.987426] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110

[ 438.987877] ? report_bug+0x17d/0x190

[ 438.988261] ? prb_read_valid+0x17/0x20

[ 438.988659] ? handle_bug+0x53/0x90

[ 438.989054] ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x70

[ 438.989458] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20

[ 438.989883] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110

[ 438.990348] mlx5_del_flow_rules+0x2f7/0x340 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.990932] __mlx5_eswitch_del_rule+0x49/0x170 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.991519] ? mlx5_lag_is_sriov+0x3c/0x50 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.992054] ? xas_load+0x9/0xb0

[ 438.992407] mlx5e_tc_rule_unoffload+0x45/0xe0 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.993037] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x2a6/0x2e0 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.993623] mlx5e_flow_put+0x29/0x60 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.994161] mlx5e_delete_flower+0x261/0x390 [mlx5_core]

[ 438.994728] tc_setup_cb_destroy+0xb9/0x190

[ 438.995150] fl_hw_destroy_filter+0x94/0xc0 [cls_flower]

[ 438.995650] fl_change+0x11a4/0x13c0 [cls_flower]

[ 438.996105] tc_new_tfilter+0x347/0xbc0

[ 438.996503] ? __

---truncated---

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2024-53121 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.11.10)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 2 December 2024 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
lists.debian.org (Web)
lists.debian.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2024-53121 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2024-12-02
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.7.0 6.11.10
linux-kernel — —

References

Similar Threats

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