Bug 2541207 (CVE-2026-97962)

Summary:	CVE-2026-97962 kernel: net/mlx5e: Move representor vnic reporter to eswitch devlink port
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 network driver. The driver fails to hold the required lock when destroying virtual network interface health reporters during device unloading. A local user with administrative privileges could trigger this flaw by unbinding the driver, resulting in a kernel assertion failure that may cause system instability or a Denial of Service (DoS).	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 11:01:55 UTC

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

net/mlx5e: Move representor vnic reporter to eswitch devlink port

The representor vnic devlink health reporter is created and destroyed
along the representor netdev (un)load path, which is not serialized by
the devlink instance lock. Destroying the reporter from there triggers
a devl_assert_locked() splat on driver unbind:
  WARNING: net/devlink/core.c:259 at devl_assert_locked+0x54/0x70, CPU#2: bash/3758
  Modules linked in: mlx5_vdpa vringh vdpa mlx5_ib mlx5_fwctl mlx5_core ...
  CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 3758 Comm: bash Tainted: G        W           6.19.0+ #1 PREEMPT
  Tainted: [W]=WARN
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), ...
  RIP: 0010:devl_assert_locked+0x54/0x70
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   devl_health_reporter_destroy+0x3a/0x1b0
   mlx5e_vport_rep_unload+0x12d/0x2b0 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_eswitch_unregister_vport_reps+0x1b8/0x220 [mlx5_core]
   ? __esw_offloads_unload_rep+0x190/0x190 [mlx5_core]
   ? kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0xc3/0xf0
   device_release_driver_internal+0x3b2/0x560
   unbind_store+0xce/0xf0

Move the reporter's lifecycle to the eswitch devlink port (un)register
paths, which are already serialized by the devlink instance lock, and
store the handle on mlx5_devlink_port. Use the port's mlx5_vport as the
reporter priv since the diagnose callback only needs a device handle and
a vport number, and mlx5_vport carries both and is initialized before
any representor driver probes.

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-30 03:44:53 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97962.mbox