Bug 2546350 (CVE-2026-98217)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98217 kernel: IB/mlx4: Fix use-after-free on pkey sysfs registration failure
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 mlx4 InfiniBand driver that can result in a Denial of Service (DoS). When device registration encounters an error during setup, the driver frees memory objects associated with partition key interfaces but retains their references. A subsequent device cleanup operation attempts to release these invalid pointers, triggering a use-after-free condition. A local attacker could exploit this issue to cause memory corruption and crash the system.	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 2026-10-06 09:03:51 UTC

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

IB/mlx4: Fix use-after-free on pkey sysfs registration failure

register_pkey_tree() ignores errors from register_one_pkey_tree() and
continues registering the remaining slaves. The per-slave error path has
already released the pkey parent kobjects, but their pointers remain
stored in the device. A later device cleanup therefore passes the stale
pointers to kobject_put(), causing a use-after-free.

Clear the parent pointers after releasing a failed slave tree and skip
unregistered trees during device cleanup. This preserves the existing
best-effort registration behavior while preventing a second cleanup of
the failed tree.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-10-09 11:02:28 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98217.mbox