Linux Kernel up to 5.18.3 net mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx state issue

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.18.3. Affected by this vulnerability is the function mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx of the component net. This manipulation causes state issue. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2022-49338. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.18.3. Affected by this vulnerability is the function mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx of the component net. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a state issue vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-371. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: CT: Fix cleanup of CT before cleanup of TC ct rules CT cleanup assumes that all tc rules were deleted first, and so is free to delete the CT shared resources (e.g the dr_action fwd_action which is shared for all tuples). But currently for uplink, this is happens in reverse, causing the below trace. CT cleanup is called from: mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx()->mlx5e_cleanup_uplink_rep_tx()-> mlx5e_rep_tc_cleanup()->mlx5e_tc_esw_cleanup()-> mlx5_tc_ct_clean() Only afterwards, tc cleanup is called from: mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx()->mlx5e_tc_ht_cleanup() which would have deleted all the tc ct rules, and so delete all the offloaded tuples. Fix this reversing the order of init and on cleanup, which will result in tc cleanup then ct cleanup. [ 9443.593347] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 206774 at drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/steering/dr_action.c:1882 mlx5dr_action_destroy+0x188/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593349] Modules linked in: act_ct nf_flow_table rdma_ucm(O) rdma_cm(O) iw_cm(O) ib_ipoib(O) ib_cm(O) ib_umad(O) mlx5_core(O-) mlxfw(O) mlxdevm(O) auxiliary(O) ib_uverbs(O) psample ib_core(O) mlx_compat(O) ip_gre gre ip_tunnel act_vlan bonding geneve esp6_offload esp6 esp4_offload esp4 act_tunnel_key vxlan ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel act_mirred act_skbedit act_gact cls_flower sch_ingress nfnetlink_cttimeout nfnetlink xfrm_user xfrm_algo 8021q garp stp ipmi_devintf mrp ipmi_msghandler llc openvswitch nsh nf_conncount nf_nat mst_pciconf(O) dm_multipath sbsa_gwdt uio_pdrv_genirq uio mlxbf_pmc mlxbf_pka mlx_trio mlx_bootctl(O) bluefield_edac sch_fq_codel ip_tables ipv6 crc_ccitt btrfs zstd_compress raid10 raid456 async_raid6_recov async_memcpy async_pq async_xor async_tx xor xor_neon raid6_pq raid1 raid0 crct10dif_ce i2c_mlxbf gpio_mlxbf2 mlxbf_gige aes_neon_bs aes_neon_blk [last unloaded: mlx5_ib] [ 9443.593419] CPU: 2 PID: 206774 Comm: modprobe Tainted: G O 5.4.0-1023.24.gc14613d-bluefield #1 [ 9443.593422] Hardware name: https://www.mellanox.com BlueField SoC/BlueField SoC, BIOS BlueField:143ebaf Jan 11 2022 [ 9443.593424] pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO) [ 9443.593489] pc : mlx5dr_action_destroy+0x188/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593545] lr : mlx5_ct_fs_smfs_destroy+0x24/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593546] sp : ffff8000135dbab0 [ 9443.593548] x29: ffff8000135dbab0 x28: ffff0003a6ab8e80 [ 9443.593550] x27: 0000000000000000 x26: ffff0003e07d7000 [ 9443.593552] x25: ffff800009609de0 x24: ffff000397fb2120 [ 9443.593554] x23: ffff0003975c0000 x22: 0000000000000000 [ 9443.593556] x21: ffff0003975f08c0 x20: ffff800009609de0 [ 9443.593558] x19: ffff0003c8a13380 x18: 0000000000000014 [ 9443.593560] x17: 0000000067f5f125 x16: 000000006529c620 [ 9443.593561] x15: 000000000000000b x14: 0000000000000000 [ 9443.593563] x13: 0000000000000002 x12: 0000000000000001 [ 9443.593565] x11: ffff800011108868 x10: 0000000000000000 [ 9443.593567] x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : ffff8000117fb270 [ 9443.593569] x7 : ffff0003ebc01288 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 9443.593571] x5 : ffff800009591ab8 x4 : fffffe000f6d9a20 [ 9443.593572] x3 : 0000000080040001 x2 : fffffe000f6d9a20 [ 9443.593574] x1 : ffff8000095901d8 x0 : 0000000000000025 [ 9443.593577] Call trace: [ 9443.593634] mlx5dr_action_destroy+0x188/0x1a0 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593688] mlx5_ct_fs_smfs_destroy+0x24/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593743] mlx5_tc_ct_clean+0x34/0xa8 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593797] mlx5e_tc_esw_cleanup+0x58/0x88 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593851] mlx5e_rep_tc_cleanup+0x24/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593905] mlx5e_cleanup_rep_tx+0x6c/0x78 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.593959] mlx5e_detach_netdev+0x74/0x98 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.594013] mlx5e_netdev_change_profile+0x70/0x180 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.594067] mlx5e_netdev_attach_nic_profile+0x34/0x40 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.594122] mlx5e_vport_rep_unload+0x15c/0x1a8 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.594177] mlx5_eswitch_unregister_vport_reps+0x228/0x298 [mlx5_core] [ 9443.594231] mlx5e_rep_remove+0x2c/0x38 ---truncated---

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-49338 since 02/26/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/21/2025).

Upgrading to version 5.18.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 11bcc79f4bcd244145e6a2c04d5dc755303492a8/15ef9efa855cf405fadd78272e1e5d04e09a1cf3 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.18.0
• 5.18.1
• 5.18.2
• 5.18.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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