octeontx2-af: fix cn20k mailbox lifetime on repeated rvu_mbox_init()
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: octeontx2-af: fix cn20k mailbox lifetime on repeated rvu_mbox_init() rvu_mbox_init() is called separately for AF-PF mailboxes during probe and for AF-VF mailboxes when SR-IOV is enabled. Each call used to allocate a new ng_rvu object, leaking the first allocation when the pointer was overwritten on the second call. Sharing one ng_rvu across both paths exposed several teardown bugs: the error path freed all cn20k mailbox DMA and kfree()d ng_rvu even when only the failing init type should be unwound, leaving live AF-PF mailbox memory in use after an AF-VF init failure. mutex_init() was also re-run on the AF-VF path while AF-PF mailbox handlers could still hold rvu->mbox_lock. Probe and SR-IOV failure paths did not release cn20k mailbox DMA either, since cleanup only happened in rvu_remove(). Allocate ng_rvu once with devm_kzalloc(), initialize mbox_lock in the same block, unwind only the mailbox memory for the failing init type, and free cn20k mailbox DMA from the probe and pci_enable_sriov() error paths.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.18.57, 7.2.6, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 6 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-90079
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-g2m5-qf5x-2p4w
- 2026-10-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-06 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-16 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@c08314f91782983d67af0807ed1360e404ac4a8b · CNA
- 2026-10-16 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More Linux vulnerabilities
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- TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
Sources
- CVE-2026-90079 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-90079 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-g2m5-qf5x-2p4w · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-90079 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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