Bug 2454812 (CVE-2026-23438)

Summary: CVE-2026-23438 kernel: net: mvpp2: guard flow control update with global_tx_fc in buffer switching
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mvpp2 driver. A local privileged user could cause a system crash, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS), by triggering a null pointer dereference. This occurs when changing the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) on systems where the CM3 SRAM resource is not present, due to improper handling of hardware access in the `mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers()` function.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-03 16:02:05 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: mvpp2: guard flow control update with global_tx_fc in buffer switching

mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers() unconditionally calls
mvpp2_bm_pool_update_priv_fc() when switching between per-cpu and
shared buffer pool modes. This function programs CM3 flow control
registers via mvpp2_cm3_read()/mvpp2_cm3_write(), which dereference
priv->cm3_base without any NULL check.

When the CM3 SRAM resource is not present in the device tree (the
third reg entry added by commit 60523583b07c ("dts: marvell: add CM3
SRAM memory to cp11x ethernet device tree")), priv->cm3_base remains
NULL and priv->global_tx_fc is false. Any operation that triggers
mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers(), for example an MTU change that crosses
the jumbo frame threshold, will crash:

  Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at
  virtual address 0000000000000000
  Mem abort info:
    ESR = 0x0000000096000006
    EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
  pc : readl+0x0/0x18
  lr : mvpp2_cm3_read.isra.0+0x14/0x20
  Call trace:
   readl+0x0/0x18
   mvpp2_bm_pool_update_fc+0x40/0x12c
   mvpp2_bm_pool_update_priv_fc+0x94/0xd8
   mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers.isra.0+0x80/0x1c0
   mvpp2_change_mtu+0x140/0x380
   __dev_set_mtu+0x1c/0x38
   dev_set_mtu_ext+0x78/0x118
   dev_set_mtu+0x48/0xa8
   dev_ifsioc+0x21c/0x43c
   dev_ioctl+0x2d8/0x42c
   sock_ioctl+0x314/0x378

Every other flow control call site in the driver already guards
hardware access with either priv->global_tx_fc or port->tx_fc.
mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers() is the only place that omits this check.

Add the missing priv->global_tx_fc guard to both the disable and
re-enable calls in mvpp2_bm_switch_buffers(), consistent with the
rest of the driver.