# CVE-2023-53079: net/mlx5: Fix steering rules cleanup

> A null pointer dereference in the mlx5 network driver causes a kernel crash during device recovery, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53079, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53079, GHSA-wfpp-99hh-hj75, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53079

## What is CVE-2023-53079?

CVE-2023-53079 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/mlx5: Fix steering rules cleanup

vport's mc, uc and multicast rules are not deleted in teardown path when
EEH happens. Since the vport's promisc settings(uc, mc and all) in
firmware are reset after EEH, mlx5 driver will try to delete the above
rules in the initialization path. This cause kernel crash because these
software rules are no longer valid.

Fix by nullifying these rules right after delete to avoid accessing any dangling
pointers.

Call Trace:
__list_del_entry_valid+0xcc/0x100 (unreliable)
tree_put_node+0xf4/0x1b0 [mlx5_core]
tree_remove_node+0x30/0x70 [mlx5_core]
mlx5_del_flow_rules+0x14c/0x1f0 [mlx5_core]
esw_apply_vport_rx_mode+0x10c/0x200 [mlx5_core]
esw_update_vport_rx_mode+0xb4/0x180 [mlx5_core]
esw_vport_change_handle_locked+0x1ec/0x230 [mlx5_core]
esw_enable_vport+0x130/0x260 [mlx5_core]
mlx5_eswitch_enable_sriov+0x2a0/0x2f0 [mlx5_core]
mlx5_device_enable_sriov+0x74/0x440 [mlx5_core]
mlx5_load_one+0x114c/0x1550 [mlx5_core]
mlx5_pci_resume+0x68/0xf0 [mlx5_core]
eeh_report_resume+0x1a4/0x230
eeh_pe_dev_traverse+0x98/0x170
eeh_handle_normal_event+0x3e4/0x640
eeh_handle_event+0x4c/0x370
eeh_event_handler+0x14c/0x210
kthread+0x168/0x1b0
ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x84

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53079?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53079?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53079 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53079 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53079 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53079 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53079 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53079/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53079/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53079
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53079
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53079

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53079/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.