Bug 2541026 (CVE-2026-98015)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98015 kernel: net/mlx5: E-Switch: fix use-after-free in mlx5_eswitch_termtbl_put
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mlx5 driver. A local attacker can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a use-after-free vulnerability in the network switch offload mechanism. This issue arises when concurrent operations race while releasing termination table handles in the mlx5_eswitch_termtbl_put() function, allowing memory to be accessed after it has already been freed.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 10:44:28 UTC

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

net/mlx5: E-Switch: fix use-after-free in mlx5_eswitch_termtbl_put

In mlx5_eswitch_termtbl_put(), the zero-ref cleanup check reads
tt->ref_count after termtbl_mutex has been released.  Two concurrent
callers on the same mlx5_termtbl_handle race: one decrements ref_count
to zero, removes the hash entry, and calls kfree(tt) while the other
has already dropped the mutex and is about to evaluate
if (!tt->ref_count), producing a use-after-free.

Fix this by capturing the result of the decrement into a stack-local
last variable before dropping the mutex.  The cleanup decision is now
made entirely under termtbl_mutex, and tt is not touched after
kfree.

Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-09-28 20:07:34 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98015.mbox