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TI-2026-79872 Aliases CVE-2026-99079GHSA-7w5x-75mg-qr73

Stale XSK buffer release in Linux kernel mlx5e driver

Priority MEDIUM 42Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

The Linux kernel from 6.4 is affected by a flaw in the net/mlx5e driver that handles AF_XDP zero-copy receive rings. After a partial batched refill of a legacy cyclic RQ, a WQE keeps a stale buffer pointer, so a later refill retry can free a buffer that is now in use and publish the same UMEM frame twice. A remote attacker needs no privileges and no user interaction, and can cause high confidentiality, integrity and availability impact.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

Description from the CNA

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Prevent stale XSK buffer release on refill retry When an XDP redirect to an AF_XDP socket fails because its RX ring is full, the XSK core frees the buffer. During the subsequent batched refill of a legacy cyclic RQ, mlx5e also releases the WQE's XSK buffer before allocating a replacement. If that refill succeeds only partially, a WQE left without a replacement retains its old buffer pointer. The buffer can meanwhile be allocated to another WQE. A later refill retry can then free the live buffer through the stale pointer and publish the same UMEM frame twice. Mark the WQE as released immediately after the driver-side free. The flag is already cleared when a replacement buffer is assigned, so refill retries no longer release stale pointers. The failure is silent and produces no kernel warning or splat. A standalone legacy cyclic-RQ zero-copy libxsk reproducer, using 64-byte UDP traffic offered at 12 Mpps, detected it: stock stopped after 2,854,914 packets in 4.094 seconds, with 4,542 xdp_rx_ring_full events and 64 ownership/double-publication errors. With this change it processed 356,904,225 packets in 30 seconds despite 571,405 xdp_rx_ring_full events, with no ownership or data errors.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00455 39th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57 +2Red Hat: 5 without a fix

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux6.4 and later6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11, 7.3Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.4 and later Fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11, 7.3 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

Upgrade the Linux kernel to 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11 or 7.3, depending on the release series in use. Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 with no fix planned, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 with no fix available.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11, 7.3

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 4 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-23 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99079
  2. 2026-10-23 Alias added: GHSA-7w5x-75mg-qr73
  3. 2026-10-24 CVSS score added · CNA
  4. 2026-10-24 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
  5. 2026-10-26 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  6. 2026-10-26 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  7. 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • 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
See all 21741 →

Sources