Bug 2554886 (CVE-2026-98497)

Summary: CVE-2026-98497 kernel: net/mlx5e: fix swapped IPv6 IPsec policy masks
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: 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   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mlx5 network driver. When configuring IPv6 IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) rules with differing source and destination prefix lengths, the driver inadvertently swaps the source and destination address masks installed into hardware flow tables. This incorrect rule configuration can allow an attacker to bypass IPsec security policies or cause traffic to be misclassified, potentially leading to unauthorized data transmission or network disruption.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:25:26 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/mlx5e: fix swapped IPv6 IPsec policy masks

IPv6 XFRM policies may use different source and destination prefix
lengths. mlx5e_ipsec_policy_mask() builds the corresponding masks
independently, but setup_fte_addr6() installs each mask in the opposite
address field.

When the prefix lengths differ, this makes the source match use the
destination prefix and the destination match use the source prefix. The
resulting hardware rule can both miss traffic covered by the policy and
match traffic outside it.

Install each mask in its corresponding match field.
Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-10-20 14:12:52 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98497.mbox