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

net/mlx5e: Prevent stale XSK buffer release on refill retry

When an XDP redirect to an AF_XDP socket fails because its RX ring is
full, the XSK core frees the buffer. During the subsequent batched refill
of a legacy cyclic RQ, mlx5e also releases the WQE's XSK buffer before
allocating a replacement. If that refill succeeds only partially, a WQE
left without a replacement retains its old buffer pointer.

The buffer can meanwhile be allocated to another WQE. A later refill
retry can then free the live buffer through the stale pointer and publish
the same UMEM frame twice.

Mark the WQE as released immediately after the driver-side free. The flag
is already cleared when a replacement buffer is assigned, so refill
retries no longer release stale pointers.

The failure is silent and produces no kernel warning or splat. A
standalone legacy cyclic-RQ zero-copy libxsk reproducer, using 64-byte UDP
traffic offered at 12 Mpps, detected it: stock stopped after 2,854,914
packets in 4.094 seconds, with 4,542 xdp_rx_ring_full events and 64
ownership/double-publication errors. With this change it processed
356,904,225 packets in 30 seconds despite 571,405 xdp_rx_ring_full events,
with no ownership or data errors.
Published: 2026-10-23
Score: n/a
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
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Remediation

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History

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 12:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Prevent stale XSK buffer release on refill retry When an XDP redirect to an AF_XDP socket fails because its RX ring is full, the XSK core frees the buffer. During the subsequent batched refill of a legacy cyclic RQ, mlx5e also releases the WQE's XSK buffer before allocating a replacement. If that refill succeeds only partially, a WQE left without a replacement retains its old buffer pointer. The buffer can meanwhile be allocated to another WQE. A later refill retry can then free the live buffer through the stale pointer and publish the same UMEM frame twice. Mark the WQE as released immediately after the driver-side free. The flag is already cleared when a replacement buffer is assigned, so refill retries no longer release stale pointers. The failure is silent and produces no kernel warning or splat. A standalone legacy cyclic-RQ zero-copy libxsk reproducer, using 64-byte UDP traffic offered at 12 Mpps, detected it: stock stopped after 2,854,914 packets in 4.094 seconds, with 4,542 xdp_rx_ring_full events and 64 ownership/double-publication errors. With this change it processed 356,904,225 packets in 30 seconds despite 571,405 xdp_rx_ring_full events, with no ownership or data errors.
Title net/mlx5e: Prevent stale XSK buffer release on refill retry
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

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Linux Linux Kernel
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-23T12:23:26.458Z

Reserved: 2026-09-25T10:25:14.389Z

Link: CVE-2026-99079

cve-icon Vulnrichment

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cve-icon NVD

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Weaknesses

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