Linux Kernel up to 6.12.74/6.18.13/6.19.3 mlx5 ib_unregister_device race condition

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.74/6.18.13/6.19.3. It has been declared as critical. This impacts the function ib_unregister_device of the component mlx5. Executing a manipulation can lead to race condition. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-45973. No exploit exists. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.74/6.18.13/6.19.3 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function ib_unregister_device of the component mlx5. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/mlx5: Fix UMR hang in LAG error state unload During firmware reset in LAG mode, a race condition causes the driver to hang indefinitely while waiting for UMR completion during device unload. See [1]. In LAG mode the bond device is only registered on the master, so it never sees sys_error events from the slave. During firmware reset this causes UMR waits to hang forever on unload as the slave is dead but the master hasn't entered error state yet, so UMR posts succeed but completions never arrive. Fix this by adding a sys_error notifier that gets registered before MLX5_IB_STAGE_IB_REG and stays alive until after ib_unregister_device(). This ensures error events reach the bond device throughout teardown. [1] Call Trace: __schedule+0x2bd/0x760 schedule+0x37/0xa0 schedule_preempt_disabled+0xa/0x10 __mutex_lock.isra.6+0x2b5/0x4a0 __mlx5_ib_dereg_mr+0x606/0x870 [mlx5_ib] ? __xa_erase+0x4a/0xa0 ? _cond_resched+0x15/0x30 ? wait_for_completion+0x31/0x100 ib_dereg_mr_user+0x48/0xc0 [ib_core] ? rdmacg_uncharge_hierarchy+0xa0/0x100 destroy_hw_idr_uobject+0x20/0x50 [ib_uverbs] uverbs_destroy_uobject+0x37/0x150 [ib_uverbs] __uverbs_cleanup_ufile+0xda/0x140 [ib_uverbs] uverbs_destroy_ufile_hw+0x3a/0xf0 [ib_uverbs] ib_uverbs_remove_one+0xc3/0x140 [ib_uverbs] remove_client_context+0x8b/0xd0 [ib_core] disable_device+0x8c/0x130 [ib_core] __ib_unregister_device+0x10d/0x180 [ib_core] ib_unregister_device+0x21/0x30 [ib_core] __mlx5_ib_remove+0x1e4/0x1f0 [mlx5_ib] auxiliary_bus_remove+0x1e/0x30 device_release_driver_internal+0x103/0x1f0 bus_remove_device+0xf7/0x170 device_del+0x181/0x410 mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked.part.10+0xa9/0x1d0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_disable_lag+0x253/0x260 [mlx5_core] mlx5_lag_disable_change+0x89/0xc0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_eswitch_disable+0x67/0xa0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_unload+0x15/0xd0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_unload_one+0x71/0xc0 [mlx5_core] mlx5_sync_reset_reload_work+0x83/0x100 [mlx5_core] process_one_work+0x1a7/0x360 worker_thread+0x30/0x390 ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0 kthread+0x116/0x130 ? kthread_flush_work_fn+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x22/0x40

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-45973 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/23/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.75, 6.18.14 or 6.19.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch c8fb5c965ac7d0104872a8e4f6451f3bc6328199/6d838873da9cb97551d42316967cc82bf8f8031b/613f5d4139b6ba801ccd93f9a28943be60d903bc/ebc2164a4cd4314503f1a0c8e7aaf76d7e5fa211 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.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-1700). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Siemens SIMATIC S7

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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